I had great good fortune the other night when I was invited by Oxford writer Philip Pullman to interview him at his country home.
Mr Pullman is the author of the acclaimed trilogy, His Dark Materials, and on December 5, The Golden Compass, the film of the first of the three novels, will be shown in cinemas across the country.
The filming process went through quite a few ups and downs before it was finally completed, so not surprisingly Mr Pullman is delighted to see all the hard work come to fruition.
He spoke to me and my colleague Jon Lewis the night after attending the glamorous London premiere with the stars in London.
Just hours after Mr Pullman and his wife rubbed shoulders with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, he spoke to us to explain how his book was adapted for the big screen.
I can't give too many details away because the full interview will be featured in a forthcoming edition of the Oxford Mail in the near future.
But I am delighted that he agreed to grant an interview to his local paper at a time when media organisations from around the globe are hanging on his every word.
I thought our filmed talk went well and Mr Pullman gave detailed and interesting answers to all my questions.
Then, off-camera fortunately, I embarrassed myself as we were shown out of the door by falling into the author's garden maze.
I had noticed the patterned hedges on the way in, but forgot all about them during the course of the interview.
As I stumbled in the dark, for a fraction of a second I half-expected to find myself in a different world, confronted by an armour-clad polar bear, with zeppelins circling overhead.
I was, of course, letting my imagination run away with me, which is what Mr Pullman has done to such delightful effect in his trilogy.
Now I can't wait to watch the movie in the city which inspired the author's fantasies — and I'm really looking forward to reading his next book.