I spent my entire childhood living abroad because of my father's occupation, so we were on long-haul flights all the time.

Despotism isn't nearly as bad as it's cracked up to be.

When popularity is your only goal, doing well in class is going to feature very low, if at all, on your priority list.

With a diplomat father, for whom foreign postings were a fact of life, my siblings and I were expected to attend boarding schools in Britain.

The real me now may not be thin but she's got the cake and, if she likes, can eat it too.

There is an inherent tolerance and kindness in the state school teenagers I know.

I don't subscribe to the 'Doctor Who' magazine and we've only got the normal amount of 'Doctor Who' fridge magnets.