My mother was a terrific force in my life. Wartime-generation woman, hadn't gone to university but should have done. Was very funny, very verbal, very clever, very witty.

You end up with this succession of periods when everything was marvellous - from King Arthur to the medieval times, Ivanhoe, chivalry, Henry VIII, Merry England, the Blitz

I get paid to do what I enjoy, not that common a condition.

The best comedy is where you attack the strong, not the weak.

I've seen the Pokémon movie, which is probably the worst movie ever made on any subject ever.

England Their England by AG Macdonell which was written in the thirties and is about a young Scotsman who's got shell shocked during the First World War… I love it.

There's an awful lot of terrible television which I could do, but I mostly stick to Have I Got News for You.