I hate the word wholesome.

So many things that you can ask children hopefully pique their interest and they can design and think for themselves. Having children draw and illustrate what they saw in their minds' eyes during the story is a tremendous teaching aid.

You never feel lonely if you're writing, because you're living with all these characters in your head.

I feel an enormous responsibility to bridge the gap between England and America, and be a sort of very quiet ambassador for my country to try to sort of do a "hands across the water" thing where they understand England and English people understand Americans. I adore America.

On the whole, I think women wear too much and are to fussy. You can't see the person for all the clutter.

If I am able to sing again it will be through some miracle operation. There's a lot of work being done to help singers regain their voices, but in my case I actually lost vocal tissue so it's very hard for my chords to rub together and I need to replace that tissue. I remain optimistic but not tremendously so.

I've got a good right hook.