When I was young I used to smother myself with olive oil mixed with a dash of vinegar to keep the flies away and lay in the sunshine for hours on end. But we knew no better then. Now we know how stupid that was.

My worst holiday was in Athens when I was a young drama student at Rada in 1965. I ran out of money. I had my things stolen and I wasn't able to speak a word of the language.

I think the deafness affects me more than I realise I think it makes me more tired. I loathe parties. I attend, smile and leave.

I'm the one by the backdoor - I am not the one in the middle of the party.

Nothing is going to improve my hearing. I've only got to prevent it from getting worse.

I can not remember even thinking that I was deaf when I was dancing.

I took some classes in sign language when I was in my early teens because I was told that I would be completely deaf very early. But I never really wanted to learn.