Some time between when I was a young actor and now, Tom Stoppard got old. But at least one thing remains the same: he’s still probably right.

The playwright stressed that he was not making a case for “good and bad”, pointing out that his sons and grandchildren know things that he does not because of technology. “I just don’t want the printed page to get swept away by that,” he said.

Stoppard suggested that English and the humanities have been affected by a drive to put science-based subjects first.

“There was a period when I was 30 or 40, when science teaching was felt to have lagged and felt to be the area which would improve everybody’s life, and I’m sure that was the case.”

But he added: “Since then, we have been more and more worried about the humanities being neglected and at the level of higher education that is a cause of enormous concern.”