Picture:GretelEnsignia :60second interview Louis de Bernires Louis de Bernires, 55, is the author of international bestsellers Captain Corellis Mandolin, which was adapted into a film starring Nicolas Cage and Penlope Cruz, and Birds Without Wings. His short story collection, Notwithstanding, is out now Interview by Graeme Green I wouldnt have been comfortable going to Afghanistan as a soldier. I dont know what the f*** we think were doing there You joined the British army when you were 18. Did you enjoy army life? No, I only lasted four months. I enjoyed all the mock battles and the comradeship of staying up all night in trenches with your mates. The trouble was I couldnt stand being told what to do. Im not the right person to be a soldier. And I dont really like telling other people what to do either, so I would have been a bad officer. I lasted about four months and then went to see the commandant and said: This is a mistake. Has the experience affected how you see modern conflicts? One of my problems with being a soldier was I thought Id end up fighting for causes I didnt believe in. I wouldnt have felt comfortable going out to Afghanistan as a soldier. They dont want to be like us, they dont want our democracy. Theyre tribal people and theyre totally different from us. I dont know what the f*** we think were doing there or what good we can do. For your new book you returned to the English village in which you grew up in the 1960s and 1970s. How has country life changed? You get more and more interference from officialdom. You suddenly find you cant put on your village fete because the insurance is too expensive, or you cant have a cake stall in case somebody gets food poisoning all this kind of stuff is a massive irritation to people who live in the countryside and who are used to doing what they bloody well like. I also think a countryside childhood isnt what it once was because weve all got totally paranoid about allowing our childhood to run free. I spent my whole childhood out in the countryside with my dog, poking around with sticks. I think thats the ideal childhood, and I worry for those children who dont have the opportunity to be free and out in the its taken people so long to realise. But Im sure they will eventually. I think it will be the book Im remembered for. Can you play the mandolin? Yes, I do play the mandolin. It might be my best instrument. I learned to play mandolin for a school competition but I never played it all that much until I started writing Captain Corelli and then I would play it to get me in the mood. I never stopped afterwards. Do you still collect classic cars? I did have three classic cars but now I have two I couldnt cope with the level of MOT. I have the first car I ever had, which is a Morris Minor Traveller, which I built myself out of two old ones. I also have a little old black Ford Popular. I dont know if that amounts to a collection. I like the Ford Pop because it was made in the same year I was. Which has aged better? The car. You can replace panels and parts on a car much more easily. open any longer. Were you a dam-builder, a tree-climber, a den-maker? I was a den-maker and a tree-climber we didnt really have a stream to dam. But, oddly enough, when I moved to Norfolk the first thing I did was dam the stream that went through my garden but I was told to take it down by the Environment Agency. How did Captain Corellis Mandolin change your life? I was able to buy a house before that I was living above a junk shop. Its been a good thing and a bad thing its made it much harder to write, because you have the feeling of people looking over your shoulder, which I didnt have before. People want you to write something different but also to write the same thing again you cant do that. I think the big novel I wrote after Captain Corelli, Birds Without Wings, is actually far better and it irritates me slightly that Television What To Watch RT1 RT2 TV3 6.50 The Afternoon Show (R,T) 8.30 Casualty (R) 9.30 MasterChef 10.05 The Doctors (T) 10.55 Dr Phil 11.45 Shortland Street (T) 12.15 Doctors (T) 12.45 Telly Bingo 1.00 News And Weather (T) 1.25 Home And Away (T) 1.55 Neighbours (T) 2.20 EastEnders (R,T) Tonys trial descends into chaos. 3.00 Showhouse (R) 3.30 Fair City (R,T) 4.00 The Afternoon Show (T) 5.45 Nuacht RT 6.00 The Angelus 6.01 News And Weather (T) 7.00 Nationwide (T) 7.30 Come West Along The Road Traditional music, including jigs, reels, hornpipes and airs from solo performers and groups. 8.00 EastEnders (T) Whitney finally faces up to what Tony did to her. 8.30 Reeling In The Years A dip into the news and music archives. 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Victorian Farm Christmas BBC2, 9pm The first series of this programme where Ruth Goodman, Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn lived as a Victorian farming family is back, and with a festive theme the trio must celebrate Christmas in traditional Victorian style. 6pm 7pm 8pm 9pm 10pm 11pm 20 metrolife Friday, December 11, 2009 index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html24.html25.html26.html27.html