howard jacobson, i really thank you for being on hardtalk. thank you. pleasure.ll remain cool, after quite a chilly start, and we will see a mixture of sunshine and showers. showers from the word go across northern england, into wales and the south—west. these gradually drifting further south and east, and as the showers arrive in east anglia and south—east england, they will turn very heavy indeed, with some hail and some thunder. all the while, showers keep going across northern ireland and a good part of scotland. so let's take a closer look, then, at ii:00pm in the afternoon. a mixture of sunny spells and hefty showers to the south—west of england. 15 degrees there in plymouth. could get to 16 in southampton, in the dry spells. but bear in mind, as the showers drift through, the temperatures will drop away by a good few degrees. maybe just 12 or 13 degrees in some of the showers across the south—east and east anglia — very heavy, with hail and thunder. a mixture of sunshine and showers for northern england. quite a few showers across north—east scotland, a fa

howard jacobson, welcome to hardtalk. irresistible cultural tide?jacobson, welcome to hardtalki irresistible cultural tide? howard jacobson, welcome to hardtalk. i am delighted to be here. thank you for having me on. i want to ask you to reflect on a long writing career. how long, do you think, it took to you to find your own authentic writers' boys. 20 years. 20 years from finishing university, and thinking i was out in the world, and ready to write, and 20 years before i could write anything that can be look like a book. i'm tempted to ask, then, what kept you. that is what many people asked. especially those who thought i would never be a novelist. my father used to say, well, where is it, then? that spurred me on. that must have annoyed you. i think my problem was that perhaps a bit over educated. i had been educated to review the classic so much, too revered dh lawrence and tolstoy and dostoevsky and dickens. ifi lawrence and tolstoy and dostoevsky and dickens. if i could be them, i didn't want to be anyone. so you wa nted didn't want to be any