I picked up this hardback edition of Hitch-22, the memoirs of the late Christopher Hitchens (political journalist, literary critic, essayist, atheist) in a Salvation Army store …

… second-hand but in such near mint condition it seemed no-one had previously turned its pages, which is a surprise, because I found it to be very entertaining.

During a 2010 Australian ABC interview on the Lateline show which coincided with the release of his memoirs, “Hitch” (he had no problem being referred to as “Christopher” but hated the abbreviation “Chris”) was asked about his insecurities as a writer:

“There was a great journalist, a Scotsman called James Cameron who was a big figure in my youth when I was trying to read and imbibe good essayists and good reporters and he said … in his Dundee accent, I can hear him saying it … he said “Every time I roll the paper into the typewriter, I think ‘today’s the day…