If someone had told me years ago that sharing a sense of humour was so vital to partnerships, I could have avoided a lot of sex!

The hover cars were terrifying. I manage to make it even more terrifying by having food poisoning on that day as well. Hover cars you can't get out of very easily or quickly, so that held a whole extra element of risk for me."

Given that I can't sing like Freddie Mercury, obviously I'm not going to pursue it as a career. What would be the point?

At Oxford University, I studied languages so I could read the great novels as they were originally written. I took what in the United States would be a double major in Russian and French, but I have to admit that the pressure of getting through so many books spoiled reading for me.

I grew up as an only child and my mother was also an only child, so we were both very passionate about reading. I think I passed that on to my daughter, who went plowing through 'Harry Potter' and every other book possible!

I do find it extraordinary that men are so prepared to pay for your dinner here. That simply never happens in England. When I first got together with Len, I couldn't understand why it seemed like he was always trying to get into my side of the car. He was holding the door open for me! I don't know what you teach American men in school here, but you have to keep it up, because it's extremely charming.

When I was pregnant, I had the romantic idea that after the baby was born I would not only take up reading in earnest again, but also write a novel while my daughter slept in her Moses basket. Of course, I barely had time to keep up with my magazines until she started sleeping properly.