You hope people won't be tricky or miserable. If you're in public life, it's important not to be. If someone says, 'I like your programme, thank you,' you should be grateful. I am. Why be nasty?

When I'm in Italy on a Friday night, my first supper there is a big bowl of fresh pasta and a glass of local wine, sitting outside. There's nothing better.

Gardening is, apart from having children, the most rewarding thing in life

Be kind to your garden and be gentle on your back!

I am partly to blame for the decking boom, and I am sorry, I know it?s everywhere these days.

Don't overdo the booze especially while flying - just because it's there doesn't mean you need to drink it. Everything in moderation.

I never get bored of my wife. It's lovely.

I've covered a lot of the British countryside and the UK from top to bottom and side to side. It's such a pity more people don't appreciate what's on their doorstep.

Depends on the evening. A good red wine is nice in cold weather. A Claret or a Rioja. I've got a good gin we make from damson plums. And you can't beat a glass of champagne every now and again.

I'm a big fan of the Queen. She carries herself well, as does the Prince of Wales, despite getting lots of stick.

I get nice letters, but really I have no idea. I just try to enthuse people. You've been married for 31 years.

I want to go to a place where I can go to a football game, take off my shirt, paint my chest and major in beer.

A good magic effect should easily be described in one sentence.

I enjoy Saturday night racing.

I'm a thousand miles from nowhere, time don't matter to me. I'm a thousand miles from nowhere and there's not place that I want to be.

The guilty think all talk is of themselves.

Fiction is a branch of neurology: the scenarios of nerve and blood vessels are the written mythologies of memory and desire.

I became a completely dysfunctional, miserable person, completely uncommunicative and aggressive.

I had no intention of anyone ever finding out what I had done.

Books are seldom useful unless they are also beautiful.

Those who have known death from inside lose all fear of death.