Inspired by 63 Up, author Tim Lott decides it's time to take stock

Turning 63, the writer looks back over highs and lows and asks, how can I sum it up?

Ever since I read John Updike's Rabbit tetralogy, I have felt that the ultimate test of a writer is to capture a single life from beginning to end in the pages of a novel.

The idea of a single life captured through different points in time was behind the TV documentary series 63 Up (I am also 63). Partly for research into my next novel and partly out of curiosity, I find myself asking, who was I at 7, at 14, at 21, and so on? Does looking back on an entire life help us shape who we want to be from now on? Am I still the same person - or someone entirely different? After all, every life has two distinct aspects: the external and the internal.