Some people, I know, think very hard when they are still teenagers about what they want to achieve in life. They set down on a piece of paper the exact steps they are going to have to take to reach their goal. Some of them even stick to the plan and end up as CEOs of companies, playing Hamlet at the RSC, or in the cabinet. Like most people, I never had the faintest idea what was going to come next. Most of the steps in my so-called career were taken haphazardly, when an opportunity presented itself.
The oddest of these steps came when I had nearly finished my PhD. I knew that a doctorate in late 18th-century satire from Cambridge might sound good at drinks parties. But it was not going to... read more