When I was deputy chairman I could travel from Glasgow to Edinburgh without leaving Tory land. In a two-week period I covered every constituency in which we had an MP. There were 14. Now we have only one. We appear to have given up.

My kids started school, so having a strong base in Melbourne has been a key priority. I’m not daunted by the travel. People say, ‘It’s so far to Australia,’ and I say, ‘You get on the plane, you eat well, you sleep, you wake up – and you’re there.’

I see a trend here where the President seems to think his job is to count votes and then try to make a deal That’s what we in legislatures do. Mr. Obama’s job is to travel the country, fight for the values that he cares about.

Once you’re in the game and it’s a part of your life, you never want to leave it. But you have to be committed to be able to travel and do the things you need to do to be successful in whatever role you’re doing.

Screenplays I didn’t really care about, journalism, travel books, getting my writer friends to write about their dreams or something. I just determined to write the books I had to write.

I remember telling my creative writing teacher that you never want to have a journal, because if you lose it, then someone’s going to know all your secrets. And then she stopped using a journal, but I always write everything down… Anytime I travel, I try and fill up notepads.

The roughest part of that lifestyle is the travel and early mornings.

My first ever job after college was as a flight attendant. I wanted to travel and could not afford it, so I decided to get myself a job where I could travel. I did it for two years and had great fun.

You know it’s only 50 miles from Grand River to Canton, but it took me 67 years to travel that distance.

To enjoy enduring success we should travel a little in advance of the world.