Want to hear a little anecdote about nice British writers being funny and British? Good. Here's a funny story about Zoë Heller, author of Notes on a Scandal, and Patrick Marber, who adapted the book into a movie.

Heller tells the tale of reading Marber's notes on her book as he wrote the adaptation:

There was this odd moment right at the end of the promotional tour for Notes on a Scandal, when we did this event in LA where they got me to read a section of my book and Patrick to read a section of his script. At the last minute I realised I didn't have a copy of the book, so Patrick gave me his. I started flicking through and he'd written comments such as "Boring old crap..." or "Eh??"

Don't worry, there were no hard feelings. It's just that some stuff wasn't going to work in a movie. That's all! Tea, anyone?