Why do we write them and should they remain private?
‘To become a spectator of one’s own life is to escape the suffering of life’. Gyles Brandreth has heeded his hero Oscar Wilde’s advice and has been writing a daily diary since he was 11. The resulting entries reveal a portrait of not only his life, but the political and showbiz landscape of the recent past. Now they have been published as ‘Something Sensational to Read on the Train’ and they describe experiences from his relationship with the school nurse at public school, to life on Lord Longford’s porn commission, and beyond. But what compels someone to publish their private observations and confessions and do men and women approach it differently? Sheila is joined by Gyles and by Oona King, former Labour MP who published her diaries in 2007. Something Sensational to Read on the Train, Published by John Murray, ISBN 978-1-84854-311-9 House Music: The Oona King Diaries, Published by Bloomsbury, ISBN 978-0-7475-9309-6
