I've been lucky to have made a number of travel programmes with the BBC, the object being to see places off the beaten track. As a result, I've often had a guide who's been able to show me things that you wouldn't see with a tour group.

Contrary to what the politicians and religious leaders would like us to believe, the world won't be made safer by creating barriers between people.

People say the most stupid things on the spur of the moment that they then have to retract.

I can be me, and people seem quite happy with that.

Please don't ask which I enjoy more - acting or hosting - because I love them equally.

I saw novelists as being admirable people and I thought... I thought... maybe, one day, I could be one of them.

Once the travel bug bites, there is no known antidote.