As her much-loved story Rivals is turned into a lavish Disney+ production, the author answers questions from Observer readers and famous fans including David Tennant, Caitlin Moran and Gillian Anderson

Dame Jilly Cooper, at 87, retains an insatiable curiosity and love for gossip. We spend an hour together in a hotel room – no, not like that! – and she machine-guns questions at me throughout: “What time do you go to bed?” “Did you play rugger at school?” “What did you vote? Are you pleased with them?” “Do you have a dog? Do you want one?” “Do you have a nice wife?” Most of these inquiries are easy enough to answer or deflect, but one leaves me genuinely slack-jawed: “Are you good in bed?”

Cooper’s occasionally profane asides are made more incongruous by the fact they are delivered by a sweet, twinkly eyed octogenarian whose feet dangle from the plump sofa on which she sits. And, as you would expect from the author of books titled Riders, Score!, Mount! and Tackle!, her love of a double-entendre knows few bounds. When I make reference to using my Dictaphone, she snickers, elongating the syllables: “Dic-ta-phone! That’s a good word.”