About three weeks into the lockdown, it occurred to me that the last woman to have touched me was Victoria Coren Mitchell, quiz show host, poker player, and wife of the comedian David Mitchell. It was a handshake, nothing more than that; besides, we were in a crowded theatre, where we’d been watching her husband play Shakespeare in Upstart Crow.
The last time we’d met she’d been interviewing me for a film she was making about bohemians. She noticed a certain lack of domesticity. “Why don’t you find a nice lady off the internet?” she asked. I presume she meant a dating site. I was too startled to make much of a reply beyond a scowl, and I ended up on the cutting room floor.
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