Radio, which was a much better medium than television will ever be, was easy and pleasant to listen to. Your mind filled automatically with images.

History is not reassuring on the subject of the longevity of seemingly lasting great nations, is it?

I feel sorry for the poor kids whose parents feel they're qualified to teach them at home. Of course, some parents are smarter than some teachers, but in the main I see home-schooling as misguided foolishness.

Statistically, I'd say comedy writers are perhaps the sanest category of show people. And why not? They make big money, and although it's not an easy trade - particularly when you're at your galley oar five days a week - it's easier on the nerves and the psyche than living with the brain-squeezing pressure and cares of being the Star.

It's a tribute to the human brain that anyone is able to function out there on television in a talk situation that is entirely artificial.

Why anyone, by dying, should thereby be declared beyond criticism, innocent of wrongdoing, suddenly filled with virtue and above reproach escapes me.

Just think of all the billions of coincidences that don't happen.