I have already received direct permission from a number of ‘Killing time’ authors. Cynthia Harrod-Eagles had referred me to her publisher, Little, Brown Book Group. They are now the first to respond and officially grant permission:

Little, Brown Book Group have no objection to granting non-exclusive, World English Language print & electronic quotation permission for the use of approx. 100 non-continuous sentences from KILLING TIME by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. (…) We will accept that this falls under the terms of “fair dealing” and we will not charge any permission fee for this use.

Many thanks to Little, Brown Book Group and of course Cynthia Harrod-Eagles!