In Germany, salads are assemblies of ham and mayonnaise, not trendy tossed leaves.

I don't mind being called snobbish, a pain and a social climber, but being called unkind really hurts.

Without my Johnson trademark mop of yellow hair, I think I would be nothing.

I think everyone can recognize the one-upmanship and the competition that go on wherever you are, especially among groups where the women don't have to hold down office jobs and instead get in a total snit about who won the longest carrot contest or took first prize for summer chutney in the August fete.

Being boring is just wrong, isn't it? You wouldn't have got anywhere being boring.

It's very hard to self-motivate without someone standing over you snarling, ready to hurl the chalk at your head at the slightest slackening.

I love writing journalism because it's all over in two hours and comes straight off the top of the head. Writing novels is soooooo much harder. It's the hardest thing I've ever done.