At the age of 91, Richard Holloway has written what he says “feels like the final book”: Last Words, in which he reflects on his long and fascinating life.

Richard Holloway is interviewed by Malcolm Doney in this week’s 12-page Books for Christmas supplement, and a recording of their telephone call is on this podcast. The book is also reviewed by Angela Tilby.

“I’ve always had a melancholic side to my nature. Melancholy is not sadness,” he says in the interview. “It’s a kind of mood you fall into when you consider the passingness and transience of things. Our lives just flow towards the end, but you look back on memories, your parents, your schooldays — all of that, and, as I get older, I spend more time doing that. . .

“And this is a grateful kind of looking back, I guess, at the way my life went, people I owe a lot to, especially my parents, my mother . . . a reflection on what has been, what feels like the final run.”

Last Words is published by Swift Press at £16.99 (Church Times Bookshop £15.29); https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781800755338/last-words?vc=CT228

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