I am, by nature, honest and, at times, outspoken. I cannot bear nonsensical secrecy or situations in which elephants are allowed to bulge in rooms, or, for that matter (and to merrily mix my metaphors!), Emperor’s states of bollock-nakedness allowed to pass without comment!

I come from a military family, though my father had to come out of the Army, just before I was born, when he contracted the insulin-dependent form of diabetes. His father, however, my paternal grandfather, Brigadier Colin Browning, was a celebrated soldier, and two of my three uncles were military men.

Discipline was an inherent part of my upbringing.

All my cousins were educated at public schools, as, in the previous generation, were my father and his sisters. Our family stood out in that respect, and I am very glad we did: My mother was vehemently opposed to elitist education – and, even if they had…