British Quotes

I want the BBC to be a mass market public service broadcaster still funded by the licence fee... and the licence fee is more durable than many people in the commercial sector believe.

As long as the appointment process is transparent and there is a broad mix of political views among the governors of the BBC, I think the public can feel confident that impartiality and independence are just as important to me as they have been to previous incumbents.

Almost everyone will find something in our services worth paying for.

Normally I would not recommend a book that tells you how to make money in the stock market. Most of these books are aimed at gullible folk, and they usually make much more money for their authors than they do for the investing public.

You can always improve on something, the technology is different today, but I would leave it well alone. If there was something that was incomplete, that might be interesting... because I do that on my website.

Working with the Kinks, there always seemed to be some kind of automatic process at work. Ray and I had this telepathy happening for a long time, where one of us always knew what the other could do with something.

What I believe in touches many aspects of religious and spiritual thought. Mainly I'm influenced and inspired by the eastern yogi's aspect of mysticism, Which is, I think, the future.

Ray is very secretive about his ideas - why not, the times that the Kinks have been ripped off, especially in the early years, it makes you a little bit cautious about telling anybody what you're doing. And that's understandable.

People that have had genuine abduction experiences that I've met that seem very genuine to me, but they're just confused about why it happened. I've met a lot of people like which I regard as being very genuine... but there's a lot of crazy people out there.

My perspective is that you should be IN the world, but not OF the world.

I think that things happen for a reason.

I think people are turning inward more now cause the world's got in such a weird, crazy state. I think its making people think more about their life and what it is really that they are doing. And how do we interact with a world that's going crazy? It's a very important time.

I love playing live now more than ever. I enjoy it, I think it keeps you young.

I don't like people telling me what to do, or trying to MAKE me write songs.

Good rock music always tends to be around.

Even if we are dead we help each other in some little way.

A lot of people that embark on spiritual endeavors tended to, especially in the '60s and '70s, they tended to give up what they had before and cut themselves off from their lives, previous life as it were. But, I don't think that one should do that.

I think there's been a big problem between religion, or organized religion, and spirituality.

We obviously need more love in the world. And we obviously need more compassion and understanding. Our leaders need to really address these issues properly now.

I think that what went wrong with religion is the same thing that went wrong with politics. Is that it became too money based and too controlling. It's just a weakness that we human beings have for control - we want one thing and then we want more and then we want more.

There's a lot to do when you're a kid - spiders to catch, girls to poke in the eye - stuff to be getting on with.

The thing I'd really like to see is the old London Bridge, with all the old buildings around it like Shakespeare's Globe. I'd like to walk along that. Don't worry, I won't get drunk and fall in.

The principle that light can be in two places at the same time is absolutely extraordinary.

The one I remember is going into London, as it was for us in Essex, on New Year's Eve in 1981. There were four of us and we'd had a few lagers on the way. One of my mates threw up in the Tube and then stood up and fell over in it. We thought it was the funniest thing we'd ever seen.

My favourite restaurant is the Thai Corner Cafe on St Paul's Road. We go there all the time. I shouldn't really mention it - I don't want it to be chock-a-block.

I'm quite a curious person. I don't mind being the one who doesn't know things, a role I often play in QI.

I'm not a great shopper but I do buy a lot of books. I'm the publishers' friend - I buy a hundred books a year and read four.

I'm more inclined to linger in the science pages of 'The Week' magazine. But my principle obsessions are still watching sitcoms and football.

I was hugely disappointed that 'Whites' was cancelled.

I see myself as a comic but the acting helps sell tickets for gigs.