My Greatest Mistake: A N Wilson, Literary Editor, London 'Evening Standard', and novelist

'Marina Warner's book was tosh from beginning to end, but I shouldn't have said so. She wept. I felt terrible'

I suppose the first great mistake, once I had acquired the fluency to be a journalist, was to pursue it rather than forgetting that I had it in the first place. All this has led to is a great deal of verbal diarrhoea on my part, and this A N Wilson character seeming to have achieved a life of his own.

When you're starting out, young people are far less kind than middle-aged people, and they also want to make their mark, so they make unkind and impertinent remarks, which I made a lot. For example, I wrote an article in the Daily Mail about the poor Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, and said he was useless, when in fact he was very charming. They paid me what seemed a huge amount of money – I think, £500. I can't see what good it did – it was just nasty of me.

The second mistake I've made is becoming middle-aged. Everything I write now seems bland. The painful fact with writing for newspapers is that one has to tell the truth. As for book-reviewing, if I am truthful as a reader, 90 per cent of new books one reads or buys are rubbish. Sometimes I have made the terrible mistake of telling the truth about this; for instance, in the case of Marina Warner, who wrote a book about statues. It was complete tosh from beginning to end, but I shouldn't have said so. She wept, and I felt terrible.

Another big mistake was when The Spectator asked me to write an article about the Queen Mother. I'd met her at a dinner once, and sometimes, if I meet somebody who is famous or interesting, afterwards I write what they said in a little notebook, just as a personal record. Years later for the Spectator article, I used those notes, and it caused a great deal of offence. This was back when you weren't meant to repeat what the Royal Family told you.

It was also a mistake ever to write about the state of Israel. Every day the postman will bring in stacks of letters from ladies living in Stanmore with furious, murderous views.

There is one other thing I feel guilty about. The Daily Mail once asked me to denounce Graham Greene for being loyal to his old chum Philby, the spy. I think what I wrote was contemptible: I said Philby was an enemy agent, so his old friends should shun him – which I now think is nonsense.

Interview by Marion Schnelle