What is the Metropolitan Egyptological Society and why does it discourage public and media enquiries? It is impossible to answer this question without spoilers so I've included a warning at the point where all is revealed. 

I discuss the co-author Robert Conquest, how the protagonists got stuck in unfulfilling marriages, whether womanisers like women as much as they claim to, the surprising availability of would-be mistresses, and what George Orwell reads into Donald McGill's seaside postcards.  

References

Robert Conquest: The Great Terror

The New Oxford Book of Light Verse (1978) edited by Kingsley Amis

George Orwell The art of Donald McGill

E Buckland The World of Donald McGill  

2006 interview with Hilly Kilmarnock