God was treated like this powerful, erratic, rather punitive father who has to be pacified and praised. You know, flattered.

Yes it's her husband. She hasn't got over it. Died thirty years ago.

There's nothing good on the television; let's burn a witch. It must have been terribly exciting to live in those times.

The thrill I got discovering Buster Keaton when I was growing up was so exciting. He was one of the greats.

Why write about the past? Well, there's more of it.

I was very sad to hear of the death of Ronnie Barker, who was such a warm, friendly and encouraging presence to have when I started in television. He was also a great comic actor to learn from.

When I was a child and I was upset about something, my mother was not capable of containing that emotion, of letting me be upset but reassuring me, of just being with me in a calming way. She always got in a flap, so I not only had my own baby panics, fears and terrors to deal with, but I had to cope with hers, too. Eventually I taught myself to remain calm when I was panicked, in order not to upset her. In a way, she had managed to put me in charge of her. At 18 months old, I was doing the parenting.