I guess that the salary that they get when they are working with me is, like, it beats working at McDonalds, so it has got some things going for it.

Anybody auditions for X-Factor it's because they want to be famous, not because they are artists.

If it all just happens like this for the rest of my life, it's going to be one endless Groundhog Day. I determined that I was not prepared to submit to this regime, so I thought I had to do something about it.

Teachers need to be more inspirational. But it's also up to engineering to make itself more interesting.

Engineering stimulates the mind. Kids get bored easily. They have got to get out and get their hands dirty: make things, dismantle things, fix things. When the schools can offer that, you'll have an engineer for life.

In my teenage years I was put off the idea of a career in flying, because I'd convinced myself that you had to be a boffin with degrees in maths and physics, which were my weakest subjects.

The celebrity thing, I mean, Lindsay Lohan - what's she for? I look at that and throw my hands up in despair.