BBC Radio is not so much an art or industry as it is a way of life . . . a mirror that reflects . . . the eccentricities, the looniness that make Britons slightly different from other humans.

The BBC is a perfect example of uncontrolled growth, [occupying] old churches and manor houses, the old Langham Hotel where Sherlock Holmes once met Moriarty and where this correspondent once shared an office with an 8-foot bathtub.

BBC Radio is a never-never land of broadcasting, a safe haven from commercial considerations, a honey pot for every scholar and every hare-brained nut to stick a finger into.

What does it say about us that people who are considered defective are instinctively caring and compassionate?

I really don't care what movie stars have to say about life.

In his lifetime the great French impressionist painter Corot painted 2000 canvases. Of that number, 3000 are in the United States.

It is always disarming to treat with the enemy, so to speak.