The idea of regretting not doing this seemed insane to me. Sitting in the corner at a bar at age 60, saying: 'I could've been Bond. Buy me a drink.' That's the saddest place I could be. At least now at 60 I can say: 'I was Bond. Now buy me a drink.'

I always wanted to be an actor. I had the arrogance to believe I couldn't be anything else.

Well the thing is, once you have a snow leopard it's difficult to go back. Everything is going to be slightly disappointing. It's very telling what your choice would be. Because that's probably how you see yourself. We used to play that game as kids and you'd say if you were animal what would you be and it'd usually be the opposite of what it should be. But all animals have got their virtues. You know, cockroaches got virtues.

There is, come to think of it, a kind of Judi Dench quality to McCain.

It didn't even really matter how good the band was - if someone could keep a beat, then you were prepared to jump up and down and smash around.

I just wanted to play a cowboy for a long time.

When you read a novel, your own imagery is the most important. It's what makes reading such a wonderful thing.