A series in which Malcolm Muggeridge talks to leading artists about influences and experiences that have contributed to their work.

Tonight: Lawrence Durrell
"...wishes you great passion and short lives!" - this he once said was to be on his tomb, and if he lived to a great age only one word would need changing: 'short' to 'long'. In his time schoolteacher, press attache, poet, satirist, author, Durrell is best known for his brilliant novels The Alexandria Quartet.