We all had such larks. Yes, it was hard work but the friendships and the genuine respect we had for one another, that side I shall miss greatly. I've stopped acting, but I don't think I've finished using my voice. I could, and probably will, record the whole of Shakespeare's sonnets. They live at the side of my bed and are my constant companions.

The common denominator of all my friends is that they're dead.

Acting has been described as farting about in disguise.

If you cannot say what you mean, your majesty, you will never mean what you say and a gentleman should always mean what he says.

Question: How do you know you're God? Answer: Simple. When I pray to him, I find I'm talking to myself.

In the theater you can chain a blue-assed baboon in the stalls and with a good script, good actors, and a good set you'd have what is called a production. With the cinema someone has to know about lenses and fine things. I have no time for the "auteur de cinema." To me, it's meaningless.

I became a professional cricket teacher about 20 years ago. I had a son born to me when I was 50, and I thought, he needs someone to bowl to him.