the whistle of the old steam trains ... could conjure up visions of bleak distances with one solitary wail.

Isn't it sad that we only get upset about nasty things happening to people and places if television decides we should?

That was the trouble with so many reality programmes on television - everyone wanted fame these days without necessarily working at anything to achieve it.

I never wanted to be a literary writer. I wanted to be an entertainer. All I wanted was to give what a lot of writers had given me: a good time on a bad day.

religion's for those who believe in hell and a spiritual belief is for those who've been there.

Clever plastic surgery can restore an appearance of youth, but nothing changes the expression of age and experience in the eyes.

More and more people each year are going abroad for Christmas ... Fed up with the fact that commercial Christmas starts in October. Fed up with carols. Dreading the arrival of Christmas cards from people they have forgotten to send a card to. Unable to bear yet another family get-together with Auntie Mary puking up in the corner after sampling too much of the punch. You see in the airports the triumphant glitter in the eyes of people who are leaving it all behind, including the hundredth rerun of Miracle on 34th Street.