I also remember being very disappointed after an attractive man was showing an interest in me, but when he asked me to a dinner party to meet his wife, she immediately informed me that her husband had received 35 Valentines earlier that year: “Keep off the grass!” These were the people who became the inspiration for my bestselling 1988 novel, Rivals – a tale of challenging misbehaviour to uncover secrets in the world of television – kindly described by the Daily Mail at the time as “a gloriously sexy rampage through the Cotswold countryside backed by the excitement of an exceptionally well researched account of the backstabbing and ruthless machinations behind a television franchise battle”.