Great opening lines

- They put the behemoths in the hold along with the rhinos, the hippos and the elephants.

Julian Barnes, A History of the World in 10½ Chapters, 1989

- It was the day my grandmother exploded.

Iain Banks, The Crow Road, 1992

- It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the archbishop had come to see me.

Anthony Burgess, Earthly Powers, 1980