I honestly can't ever imagine retiring because I don't know what else I would do - even when I'm on holiday, 70% of the time I'm working. I think I'd like to go out on the job so, ideally, 'And the winner is... Ooooh, and he's gone!'

I honestly can't ever imagine retiring because I don't know what else I would do - even when I'm on holiday, 70% of the time I'm working. I think I'd like to go out on the job so, ideally, 'And the winner is... Ooooh, and he's gone!'

Anyone who goes on 'The X Factor' to make big money will be in for a big shock.

Harshness to me is giving somebody false hopes and not following through. That's harsh. Telling some guy or some girl who've got zero talent that they have zero talent actually is a kindness.

I think of stress as the creator of cancer and heart attacks, like a tiny little ball you feed. I believe that one of the reasons I've never got ill is that I'm not stressed.

On one level, going bust didn't bother me. It was the 80s, and there wasn't the stigma about bankruptcy that you might think. My mates weren't bothered. My dad was in business.. he knew that it happened, too. He loaned me the money to bail me out, and I got a loan from the bank to pay him back.

I can't stand stage mothers. It doesn't work. You definitely feel that with the new generation of pop stars right now they've all managed to work it out for themselves. You have to have confidence in that. When you're young, you know your market better than I will. I love having young people on the show because I can learn from them.