My father was a fish market porter. So I grew up on fish, because he used to steal one a day, I grew up on the very best fish that money could buy, 'cause he only stole the good stuff.

I learn the whole time. I think it would be dull if I thought I was going to work and wouldn't find something new. We always learn.

I regard myself as someone who is retired but who occasionally goes out to work. In fact, I'm offered so much good stuff that it's not so occasional.

I'm a sort of boy next door. If that boy has a good scriptwriter.

Books were my window on the world. Growing up at the Elephant and Castle, which was very rough, my paradise was the library.

When I was 6 my father went to fight in the war, so he was my big hero. I thought he was the greatest thing.

You must always steal, but only from the best people. Steal any trick that looks worthwhile. If you see Vivien Leigh or Robert DeNiro or Meryl Streep do something stunningly effective, and you can analyze how he or she did it, then pinch it. Because you can be sure that they stole it in the first place.