"This has been brutal. For a working-class man with a direct manner, modern broadcasting has become a dangerous place. I was the headline this time. But I won't be the last."

1. Muriel Spark
2. Beryl Bainbridge
3. Agatha Christie
4. Penelope Fitzgerald
5. Elizabeth Taylor
6. Ian Rankin
7. Kazuo Ishiguro
8. Ken Follet
9. John Banville
10. William Golding