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

[The] BBC was known as Auntie suggesting someone prudish and Victorian and that she still is on some days. On others she's a champagne-soaked floozie, her skirts in disarray, her mind in the gutter, and the mixture can be quite wonderful.

Pilgrims who are looking for a cure are soon looking for a curio.

Who knows who will be on board? A couple of spies, for sure. At least one grand duke; a few beautiful woman, no doubt very rich and very troubled. Anything can happen and usually does on the Orient Express.

What has reality shows got to do with reality? It is beyond unreality; there is nothing real about it.

The helicopter is a fine way to travel, but it induces a view of the world that only God and CEOs share on a regular basis.

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.