Forty-one years ago the Book Marketing Council published a list of who they judged to be the 20 greatest living British authors. None is still alive. The Times – then (and now?) a paper of record – covered the group, but sadly mis-spelled Rosemary Sutcliff as Sutcliffe (sic) with an E.

The full list was Beryl Bainbridge (21 Nov 1932 – 2 July 2010), John Betjeman (28 Aug 1906 – 19 May 1984), Malcolm Bradbury (7 Sept 1932 – 27 Nov 2000), Anthony Burgess (25 Feb 1917 – 22 Nov 1993), Margaret Drabble, Lawrence Durrell (27 Feb 1912 – 7 Nov 1990), John Fowles, Leon Garfield (14 Jul 1921 – 2 Jun 1996), William Golding (19 Sept 1911 – 19 Jun 1993), Graham Greene (2 Oct 1904 – 3 Apr 1991), Ted Hughes (17 Aug 1930 – 28 Oct 1998), John Le Carre, Laurie Lee, Rosamund Lehmann (3 Feb 1901 – 12 March 1990), Iris Murdoch (15 Jul 1919 – 8 Feb 1999) , V.S. Naipaul (17 Aug 1932 – 11 Aug 2018 ), V.S Pritchett (16 Dec 1900 – 20 Mar 1997. Rosemary Sutcliffe (sic), Laurens Van de Post (13 Dec 1906 – 16 Dec 1996), Rebecca West (21 Dec 1892 – 15 Mar 1983).