Certainly in terms of my life - anybody's life - you go through death, childbirth and marriage, glory and defeat, and so on.

I am under no illusion that I will ever be the greatest opera composer in the world, with Wagner and Verdi and Strauss before me. I think my work could fit very nicely into musicals, though.

My cheeks explode when I smile. Thats why I have to look so nonplussed.

I've been thinking of trying my hand at rap. I've been recording snippets on my BlackBerry.

I'm hyper light-sensitive and must sleep in the equivalent of a sealed tomb.

Well, my great lesson with that was I went to the same production twice - once completely high and once completely sober - and both times were equally wonderful.

You know the question: 'How do you get to Carnegie Hall?' Answer: 'Practise?' Well, in my case, I got there by not practising. I didn't finish my music degree. And when I got into the pop world, I decided not to conform because I figured that the point of being an artist was that you shouldn't be like anyone else.