Ah, how lovely to meet you – though I confess I am feeling a little bit anxious, as I so often do in social situations.

I am Ali. Well, to be perfectly honest, I am Alienora Taylor (nee Browning) – but, you see, my name is so unusual that few people have heard of it and even fewer can spell it, let alone pronounce it. ‘Ali’ is easier.

You want me to tell you how it sounds?

Oh, all right! It is made up of five syllables – and the sound (phonetically) is Ali – u – nora.

I love my name now, but it has provoked dreadful nervous tension in the past.

Why? Yes, you have a point: with my orange hair, colourful clothes, apparently loud personality and air of confidence, anxiety seems a very strange claim indeed, does it not?

But, you see, I am naturally very…