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A darkly troubled man who was abusive towards his leading ladies, or a genius who changed the

language of cinema and made some of the most memorable

films of the 20th century or quite possibly both.

Life is a big mystery as it always has been. I think people are intrigued by mystery to find out

about things they don't know anything about. Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock is Our Great Life and nominating him is novelist and

screenwriter Anthony Horowitz.

Anthony in your work that the TV dramas that you write and to many listeners the Alex Rider novels

will come to mind. There's murder, there's mystery and it's critical to the

mix both humor and suspense. Does Hitchcock lead the way for you here?

I was aware of Hitchcock at a very early age. When I was back at my prep school we used to have a film club

and they would show the sort of the early Hitchcock films

the ones that children were allowed to see.

And I grew up with sort of the knowledge of chase, action,

suspense, tension, and later on horror as well.

I mean I remember seeing the birds in San Francisco no less when I was about 12 years old.

It had only been out for a year or two and it terrified me, of course.

But I learned an awful lot sort of subconsciously from Hitchcock from the master.

And humour too?

Well yes, I mean he is absolutely extraordinary at putting humorous moments in not always

instantly I think successfully there are films where you actually wints and his own sense of

humor was to say the least very very peculiar we might talk later about his

...