I was bought an electric guitar when I was 12, but my guitar teacher beat me up. I didn't like guitar lessons... My teacher was obviously bored giving me lessons, and one day I offered him a liquorice toffee, but he didn't answer. So I threw it at him, it hit him in the face, and he sort of beat me up.

I hate belongings. I hate clutter. It really bothers me because I can't think properly. If you've got distractions in front of you, your mind goes nuts.

I was living life like in one of those Disney movies, where I genuinely believed nobody was ever going to die

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.

I didn't have any qualifications when I left school - I had three O-levels.

I want people to understand that from the minute Lady Gaga arrived, she created a new set of rules: being different is good; embrace it.

Praise a stranger with a few nice words and he becomes a stranger that calls you a friend.