The independents who were our fiercest competitors all succumbed to the one-hit-makes-you-a-genius philosophy. It is a mistake to think you have the magic touch. Show business is roulette. If you start to play for stakes you can't afford, there's no way you can survive.

In one way, I suppose, I have been "in denial" for some time, knowingly burning the candle at both ends and finding that it often gives a lovely light. But for precisely that reason, I can't see myself smiting my brow with shock or hear myself whining about how it's all so unfair: I have been taunting the Reaper into taking a free scythe in my direction and have now succumbed to something so predictable and banal that it bores even me.