Cleo

Can I, can I just say that I was actually...

Well, I mean, you, you've been in this situation as well, I think, Alex Dyson, haven't you? Were you, were you Cleo-

Famously not

... oh, Cleo Bachelor of the Year?

[laughs] And you've held it over me for many years.

[laughs]

So I'm surprised that you're confused that I was a Cleo Bachelor of the Year nominee.

I wasn't.

At 15, I was desperate to be a writer, and I accepted that there would be sometimes the need to include sex scenes in things I wrote.

So in my teens, I diligently studied Cleo magazine, so I was well up on the theory, re techniques and positions.

I eventually convinced a few individuals of the male persuasion to help me further my research in a practical field study.

[laughs]

I'd be too embarrassed to read those scenes aloud to you now.

But if you do happen to read the book, please be kind about my writing of sex.

Much of it is based on research from 1970s issues of Cleo.

[laughs] Or pink bits I happened to glimpse at the porn and prawn morning.