Since we’re going to be on the Airport Beat for a while, now…

This is fun, and a point for Heathrow. Alain’s the Swiss Army philosopher who wrote The Art of Travel and On Love, amongst other popular, bestselling books. He was in Heathrow for a week, interviewing people, writing his diaries there, and having the writing projected on a big screen above him while he did it.

 ‘There’s a cleaner from Romania who’s job it is to go from G to A (beacons),’ he says. ‘She’s very funny and she’s got a real view that writers are a waste of time so she purposefully teases me and bangs the desk. You start to see characters here that you would never understand as a passenger because you’re rushing through.’It’s clear De Botton is deeply fascinated by people and like a sponge he’s soaking up every encounter he can. When the TravelMail video cameras stop rolling he begins to question me about my own role as a travel journalist and I can’t help thinking I wouldn’t mind a mention in his book. ‘Nobody has bribed me yet…’ he jokes.

When the book’s finished, they’re going to give away 10,000 free copies at Heathrow, and put it on sale for the rest of the world. Pretty awesome.