He had just written Cryptonomicon, a thriller based on encryption, and I had just written The Code Book, a history of cryptography. Neal told me a story with a cryptographic angle and a serendipitous twist, concerning the Japanese attack on the Pacific island of Midway in June 1942. There was one thing I didn’t want to do once but we didn’t fall out over it We agreed to differ. He makes me feel very special when I work with him, like I’m the most important person in the unit. I’d been worried about my performance, as usual, so it was great to be reassured. It’s like pleasing your Dad.Obviously I’m flattered by the fact that he’s written things for me.

Because Alan won’t fly, he had to get there by train and there was a strike on the French side of Eurotunnel, so he never got to Prague He sent me a fax after he’d seen the rushes. I started out as a nurse and I used to describe diseases to him, but I’ve had to stop. He’s dragged himself to hospital on more than one occasion, thinking he’s had a heart attack.We all missed him during the filming of Oliver Twist We made it in Prague. By the time he docks at Southampton, Alan is in a terrible state.Then there’s the hypochondria.

So he has to come back on the QE2, the safest boat in the world, and for the first time in living memory, it runs into a hurricane and 60ft waves. Alan is at a dinner dance when the grand piano comes unhitched from its mooring and ploughs into a man in a wheelchair. The maitre’d is carving a joint when he loses his balance, lurches forward and stabs someone in the chest. I send three lines saying “I haven’t heard from you for ages” and he faxes back this great long novel which is always brilliant and funny He has a great eye on the world. The best one I ever received, which made me sick laughing, was when he was making a film in the Virgin Islands Major problem for Alan It took everyone else 17 hours by plane It took Alan 13 days by boat, train and boat. perhaps he reminded me a bit of my brother.We don’t see each other much because he has travel phobia We fax a lot We have faxual intercourse.