Bestselling author Ken Follett on his latest work
We chat to bestselling author Ken Follett about bear-baiting and ‘sexy’ Queen Elizabeth I
IT ALL started with a broken-down car that needed to be repaired. Ken Follett was in a bit of a jam – in the ’70s as a cash-strapped journalist, he couldn’t persuade his bank to give him a loan to fix his car. Inspired by a colleague who’d written a thriller and had it published, Follett decided to try his hand at fiction writing.
“I did write it and I got my advance and I got the car fixed.” And the rest, as they say, is history. The much-loved British author recently released his 32nd novel, A Column of Fire, the third instalment in his historical Kingsbridge series.
His first in the series, The Pillars of the Earth, hit the shelves more than 25 years ago and was set in the Middle Ages. But in a bold move Follett now moves the action on a few hundred years into the era of Queen Elizabeth I– a leader who he describes as “brave, smart and sexy”.
We recently got a chance to phone Follett at his home in Stevenage in the UK to quiz him about his sprawling new epic. What was it that drew you to the 16th century? It was finding out that Queen Elizabeth I set up the first British Secret Service. I learnt that these chaps did so many of the things that are done today by MI5 and the CIA – putting people under surveillance, tailing them, intercepting their mail, sending coded letters. A lot of the paraphernalia of modern espionage was being invented by fellows in doublets and hose. What else did you learn that fascinated you? Something that surprised and shocked me was discovering that Queen Elizabeth I went to bear-baiting shows. This was a popular sport that entailed a pack of half-starved dogs attacking a chained-up bear – it was a fight to the death. You imagine it’s just a bunch of half-drunk blokes that would go to these events but the queen absolutely loved it, apparently. Which countries did you visit during the course of your research? I went to Seville in Spain, I went to Paris and Orléans (France) and then to Antwerp in Belgium which was part of the Spanish Netherlands in the 16th century. I also have a few scenes set in the Caribbean which I visit often because I have a holiday home in Antigua. How long did it take to write A Column of Fire? Three years – that’s a year of planning and research, a year for the first draft and a year for the rewrite. Every instalment in this series has been a door-stopper. How do you manage to be so productive? Are there ever days when you procrastinate? No, I do have days that are better or worse than others but my policy is just to keep going. If I’m aware that there’s something a bit lacklustre about what I’m doing I’ll just revisit it tomorrow and make it better. It’s better to write something – if you write nothing then you’ve just wasted a day. If you could have been born in any other time in history when would you have chosen? I’d never want to live in any other time because I’m too fond of my comfort, central heating and good health-care. If you could invite any three people from history to dinner who would you choose? Well, of course I’d want to meet Shakespeare. It would be completely fascinating to talk to someone who practically invented the theatre. I’d also want to meet President Kennedy – I’d like to talk to him about the Cuban missile crisis. And wouldn’t it be interesting to meet Queen Elizabeth I?