Continental Europeans often say a reticence in talking about sex is one of the odder features of English-speaking culture.

This reticence was certainly a feature of the family I was born into and became a fact of life in the family Anne and I created. As a memoirist I do not feel it necessary or appropriate to reveal all about the stresses and strains, pleasures and pains of being a teenager, or to be candid about the physical side of sexuality – important as it is throughout life. This reluctance to speak about personal experience and intimacy never seemed to inhibit lively discussions over the years about controversies in relation to censorship, contraception, feminism, abortion, homosexuality, rape, AIDS, paedophilia, and pornography.

Looking years ahead, I recall that, in my first post with the European Commission in Dublin as a press officer, I had wondered how to deal with visiting continental journalists who might expect sexual services to be readily available. I telephoned for advice a friendly man-of-the-world who had a huge reputation in marketing and press relations in the export agribusiness. The immediate answer to the question still makes me laugh: “I check them into the Burlington Hotel and let them make it up as they go along”, said my experienced informant. As Dublin has changed, the Burlington has also undergone several transformations.

Read more: 1955 – Trust