Book of a lifetime: A Moment’s Liberty by Virginia Woolf

From The Independent archive: Gyles Brandreth on the heartfelt diaries of a modernist great

The entries in Woolf’s diary span over 25 years (Getty)

For half a century I have been hooked on diaries – my own and other people’s. I began to keep a journal in 1959. I wrote my first entry on my first night at boarding school, by torchlight, underneath the blankets. My inspiration was the diary of Samuel Pepys. I had been given a copy, “suitably edited”, for my 11th birthday.

Over the years I have collected published diaries by the dozen – from James Woodforde’s Diary of a Country Parson (a window on the 18th century and a constant delight) to the 1970s Senate diary of George Aiken (very heavy going). For many years, my favourites were the wonderfully waspish diaries of the MP and social gadfly, Sir Henry “Chips” Channon, and the good-humoured, good-hearted post-war diaries of Noel Coward.