I think music is about our internal life. It’s part of the way people touch each other. That’s very precious to me. And astronomy is, in a sense, the very opposite thing. Instead of looking inwards, you are looking out, to things beyond our grasp.

Everybody thought I was a bit of an eccentric for wanting to be out there looking at the stars, but I still do

I never took sheet music seriously. I could do better myself just by listening to other people and using my own intuition.

Mantovani was a great influence on me.

I think Queen tribute bands are great. However, we have to keep them at arm's length, otherwise it could be too dangerous.

At the moment the Queen stuff does sell really well, but there's no guarantee it'll go on forever

I was an incurable romantic then, same as I am now. I was always pining away after somebody