My father and mother were second cousins, though they did not meet till shortly before their marriage.

I did meet 'The Everly Brothers' once, and we talked for awhile. Then we figured out we were first cousins! My late mother was the sister of Don and Phil's father, Ike Everly.

I was an only child and I had a mother and father who were just - there wasn't a straight man in the house, and I mean that in a very nice way. They were fun, and we would laugh a lot.

I left for New York expecting to repeat my success, only to be turned down by almost every publisher in that city, till the Viking Press, my American publishers of a lifetime, thought of taking me on.

But my mother and father were married when my mom was 20 and my dad was 24.

He was like a second father to me,