The first thing we did was to proclaim our Liverpoolness to the world, and say 'It's all right to come from Liverpool and talk like this'. Before, anybody from Liverpool who made it, like Ted Ray, Tommy Handley, Arthur Askey, had to lose their accent to get on the BBC.

Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears.

The more real you get, the more unreal everything else is.

It's better to fade away like an old soldier than to burn out.

It matters not who you love, where you love, why you love, when you love or how you love, it matters only that you love

Work is life, you know, and without it, there's nothing but fear and insecurity.

It doesn't matter how long my hair is or what colour my skin is or whether I'm a woman or a man.