The American author’s fifth memoir is all about sex - with alfresco frolics in London and encounters in a bullring among the tamer anecdotes. At 85, he explains why he thought the book would never be published

‘I think the French are best in bed, because they’re the most perverted,” the great American author Edmund White divulges on a videocall from his book-crammed apartment in Chelsea, New York. In France, he says: “All kinds of vices are allowed and encouraged. Although I’ve had wonderful sex with English people,” he adds, kindly.

Is there any sex act at which he would draw the line? “Um, no,” says the 85-year-old, barely pausing to consider the question.