the novel. the themes and subjects, the sta ple novel. the themes and subjects, the staple of the writer, our american life, jewish values and the blurred line between fact and fiction. as a writer, i must be free to have a perspective larger, deeper, darker than that of a son, a husband, a relative or a friend. philip roth hit the literary big—time in 1969, with his bestselling fourth book, comic, irreverent bold novel which was very taken up with exploring male sexuality. so you like this girl? i like a lot of girls. she likes the jews? one, me. i grew up with tremendous freedom, we will not afraid to say things. there was great curiosity about sex and with the great questions we raised our

voice to the heavens and said when? what he is writing about, whether it is the individual self or the nation, is a horror of taboos and people telling you what to do, a horror of anything that verges on fascism or totalitarianism, and my god, he has been prophetic. philip roth was brought up in newark, new jersey, in a jewish family, in a jewish neighbourhood. it provided him with a lifetime of material and plenty of controversy, amid a lifetime of accusations of anti—semitism. lifetime of accusations of anti-semitism. he said i am not a propagandist for the jews, i am anti-semitism. he said i am not a propagandist for thejews, i am an artist. i am writing about human beings, notjews per se. artist. i am writing about human beings, not jews per se. philip roth was one of the great american writers of the modern era, his purpose he said was simple. it was to stay true to the words, true to

the imagined thing. philip roth, who's died at the age of 85. and you can watch alan yentob's interview with philip roth, filmed just after his 80th birthday, on bbc two at 11.15. that's it. here on bbc one it's time for the news where you are. hello, this is sportsday. i'm ben mundy at the bbc sport centre, here's what's coming up tonight. arsenal's new manager settles into the emirates hot seat. and outlines his post—wenger plans. for me, the challenge is unreal.

keep it simple simon and stay safe in the pack, yates did just that to retain his giro lead in italy and, simply the bess for england. the spinner is handed a test debut against pakistan at lords. hello and welcome to sportsday. good evening. ten days ago, we saw the end of arsene wenger‘s 22 year reign at arsenal. today we heard from his successor, unai emery. arsenal say the former psg manager is the perfect fit, and emery thanked wenger for the legacy that he's left at the club. our sports correspondent david ornstein was at today's news conference. finally, we know the identity of the

new manager. the first appointment and 22 years, today we got deborah opportunity to hear from them for the first time. he did speak in english, despite not being fluent in the language. so that will gain him some early credit. but the language. so that will gain him some early credit. let's hear what he had to say. he's had a challenge. every year. i grow up with a new challenge. and for me, the challenge is unreal! also in the news, the chief executive explained the whole process. it candidates for the job, and whittled it down to a final three, and then the final choice was unai. the top table of domestic and european football. winning the big

district is in the game, this is a massive football cloud. and that's what you need to be. this transition is going to be one of the biggest challenges we have faced. we don't click our fingers and have overnight success, we click our fingers and have overnight success, we have to understand that this would be a process about improving a little bit more everyday, working hard every day. working with unai and listening to him. developing dramatically individually, if they take on and commit. he has a big job on his hands, rebuilding as arsenal tried to galvanise their players and reignite theirfan base. galvanise their players and reignite their fan base. and galvanise their players and reignite theirfan base. and the galvanise their players and reignite their fan base. and the transfer window closes earlier for the first time this summer. so he needs to get to work immediately before the premier league gets going again on the weekend of the 11th of august. england's cricketers get a chance to start afresh tomorrow, after a miserable winter, ashes humiliation.

then a series defeat in new zealand, they start their two—match series against pakistan. and we now know 20—year—old spinner dom bess will make his test debut at lords, where our sports correspondent joe wilson sent us this. here we go, the start of another english summer, put yourself in the position of gel. this position will be number three. he is the captain, the lead england's test team after such a disappointing winter. he played a crucial role and all, long may that continue for the point of view. but in his match, he needs and help with the energy and positivity. and the debut that we will see from the spin bowler dom bess. it was a

entertaining, are you ready to unleash in cricket? he is a very confident young man, he's got a lot of energy, as you would expect. and he seems like he's really clear about what he wants to be doing again. and that's all can ask of. it's really exciting for me as captain. and, i remember mine, i don't remember, all you want to do is have tomorrow, along and... the weather has been great, perfect time to try out your new sunglasses for the season. but relying on the weather when you're in this hemisphere is notoriously difficult. as the captain of pakistan has discovered. too cold, too hot, and

then you go onto the island, it's very cold and then it's still too hot. so this is the weather, so i think, as a captain, i see at the moment, less confidence as a team. so we will try our best to take on the team and i think, we have a couple of players that will do their best and perform well. they promised they will be more positive than they we re they will be more positive than they were on their last english tour. more aggressive, more attacking. england of course need the energy, which will come from a victory. so all in all, this promises to be an intriguing series. this is sportsday. let's check on some other stories. and staying with cricket. one of south africa's greatest batsmen, ab de villiers, is retiring from the international game. the former captain, who's played 114 test matches and 228 one—day internationals, says hes "run out of gas".

great britain's simon yates is still in the leader's pinkjersey at the giro d'talia, with italy's elia viviani taking stage 17. overall, yates leads by 56 seconds with just four stages to go. and, after winning herfirst match in four months yesterday, heather watson lost today. she's out of the nuremberg cup after a second round defeat to hungary's fanny stollar. more on those stories on the bbc sport website. now, the excitement is building ahead of saturday's champions league final in kiev. twelve time european champions, real madrid up against liverpool, who last won the trophy in 2005. they did so that night because of this man, jerzy dudek. his distractions unnerved both andrea pirlo and andriy shevchenko as they beat ac milan on penalties. before dudek. bruce grobbelaar‘s spaghetti legs helped liverpool win the 1984 cup against roma. however, their current number one says he'll do his own thing if this weekend's final goes the distance. i'm just willing to try and copy

other players, something like this, to play the game and maybe think. they did really well in the past, and take it on. but to copy someone i think is the wrong way, but anything can happen and they can go to penalties. so, i didn't really think about that situation too much. the team, people set the last few rounds, they did not play good against, but they always went through and that is the main thing to do in this competition. they have a lot of experience. then i'd win games and, they‘ re a lot of experience. then i'd win games and, they're clever when they count the game down, what this beard up count the game down, what this beard up again —— speeded up again. we will be ready and we are hungry, we

wa nt to will be ready and we are hungry, we want to win it, we have not been in the finals. so everyone has been dreaming of this and we're going to work really ha rd dreaming of this and we're going to work really hard to achieve that. we respect them, we know what they can do, but we also know that we have a chance to be first. we just wanted to show you this before we go, because liverpool's opponents have been warming up in style over the past week. we showed you this the other day. this is what happened when real‘s marcelo let his son hang out with some of his teamates. enzo became an overnight internet sensation, as this did the rounds on social media and was trending, he completed the bin—challenge, sergio ramos playing a key role. in it goes. well, unsurprisingly the 8 year—old plays for one of real‘s youth teams. and his dad went along to see them in their changing room, to, well, try another challenge. not quite as clean this... but crucially it doesn't touch the floor... waitfor it.... in it goes.

that is how they warm up for champions league. that's all from sportsday. coming up in a moment, the papers. hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me are baroness ros altmann, former pensions minister, and the writer and broadcaster, mihir bose. many of tomorrow's front pages are already in. we begin with the metro.

i'm so lucky to be alive. the metro carries the story of yulia skripal‘s first statement since being released from hospital following the chemical attack on her and herfather in salisbury. the i follows suit showing the same picture of yulia skripal who, despite turning down help from the russian embassy, says she one day wishes to return to russia. the financial times carries a warning from the head of hmrc who says the governments proposed ‘max fac‘ customs deal, post brexit, could cost businesses a total of twenty billion pounds a year. in the telegraph, labour leaderjeremy corbyn is accused of "defying the will of the people" by expressing support jail hell because of a police blunder, the daily express say a businessman

has spent nearly eight months in jail while falsely accused of crimes including rape. the times take aim at germany, accusing it of blocking britain's involvement in the galileo encrypted navigation system after brexit let's talk first of all about the comments a very striking image, and if you knew nothing about the story you would just say in attractive woman, look at the photo. look at the photo, it's clearly a scarf in the photo, it's clearly a scarf in the treatment that she had after she was poisoned and she is on record saying that this was an assassination attempt will stop so she is clearly recognising what is happening to her. and some of the

commentary that she has been making the russian ambassador saying, she would like to see her. like to see if she could help. but at the moment, she does not wish to reveal herself to the services. funny. she comes over very well. she comes across as a very well—adjusted person she has not gone on to denounce her homeland, she's willing to go back. her family is still there as well. any comment she makes, would be used by the russians to say, you've been set up by the british and things like that. these words that she uses, can be used to say that you're acting say propaganda piece to whatever. she's very,