LUCY WORSLEY

. . .are you reading now?

BERTIE by Jane Ridley, a really excellent biography of Queen Victoria’s raffish, playboy son Edward VII. How many sordid sexual scandals could one king manage?

. . .would you take to a desert island?

I WOULD take the collected works of Jane Austen, if that’s not cheating. If it is, I’d have to choose Emma, which is my favourite.

. . .first gave you the reading bug?

THE Moomin stories, by Tove Jansson (Snufkin pictured right). They are strange, troll-like creatures who have adventures in Finnish forests and teach you about love and loss at the same time.

. . .left you cold?

I KNOW that I’m supposed to like the Harry Potter books, but I got my own fix of boarding school life from Enid Blyton a generation earlier. I’ve still got a crush on tomboyish Darrell from Upper Fourth At Malory Towers.

Jane austen at Home by Lucy Worsley is out now (Hodder & Stoughton, £25)