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

I don't do it often, but I do cry. I also laugh a lot; people tell me I'm funny and I do like to laugh.

Someone said to me the other day: "Well, you're eventually going to live until 110." And I said: "Well, who's going to keep me? What age do I retire? 100?" How are you going to live all those years and who is going to keep you doing it? I have a couple of grandchildren now so I'm banking on them.

I'm always slightly envious of people who become extremely rich without anyone knowing who the hell they are, like financiers.

I come from the slums; I come from a hard background; I come from a poor family; and I was a soldier.

I think I have the secret of a successful L.A. restaurant, especially now that so many Europeans live there. You have to have a place where they can see out the windows, see the world passing by. Europeans fancy that.

I've never taken drugs - if you take a drug of your choice, you get some ecstatic feeling.