'We all know the range and breadth of Alexander's writing, not all of it comic but much of it SO comic it keeps us afloat through dark times. [He] has an insatiable appetite for travel and new experiences and new vistas , but also that kind of never-satisfied curiosity which is what a writer requires, one of the reasons why there is this extraordinary profusion of characters and places and set-ups...' James Naughtie
