I have the privilege of interviewing famous, infamous and extraordinary people for a living, including heads of state, Hollywood superstars and other men and women with remarkable tales to tell. Here are some of my favourites, from two Archbishops of Canterbury to Tiger Woods.
- Archbishop Justin Welby “Sometimes I think this job is impossible.”
- Archbishop Rowan Williams “I never wanted the job in the first place.”
- Jeffrey Archer “Why is Mary still with me? Good question!”
- David Baddiel “I can’t get my mother’s death out of my head.
- Clare Balding “Kick her in the head.
- David Blaine “My chances of survival are getting worse.”
- Brian Blessed “Are you calling me a liar?”
- Heston Blumenthal “My mind goes into overdrive.”
- Melvyn Bragg “I’m still a bag of nerves.”
- Richard Branson “Killing Stephen Hawking would not be a good thing for Virgin to do!”
- Derren Brown “I totally saw how you can begin to go mad.”
- June Brown “It’s easier to cry on stage than in real life.”
- Rob Brydon “I’m at my best when I’m naked and a little bit wet.”
- David Cameron “How much am I worth? You do the maths …’
- Nick Cave “Well anyway, I spat in your tea.”
- Craig Charles “It’s nice to get here and not be dead.”
- Nick Clegg “What I did was criminal.”
- Paulo Coelho “I am no kind of guru.”
- Joan Collins “Donald Trump was my inspiration.”
- James Corden “I’ve been homesick in LA.”
- Cat Deeley “I was bonkers and nobody tried to stop me.”
- Anthony Daniels “Playing C-3PO left me feeling lonely, isolated and angry.”
- Jonathan Dimbleby “My father stole Hitler’s cutlery.”
- Jason Donovan “If my kids want to do drugs, I’d prefer them to do drugs with me.”
- Chris Evans “If we crash now we will both die.”
- Rupert Everett “On a bad day, I feel livid that Hollywood has stopped calling.”
- Livingstone Fagan “David Koresh will come again to judge you all.”
- David Frost “Did I sell my soul for wine, women and wealth?”
- Mariella Frostrup “My daughter asked if I had taken cocaine. I said yes.”
- Emilia Fox “She was an amazing woman, I could play her forever.”
- Frank Gardner “I will never forgive the men who did this to me.”
- Michael Gambon & Tom Courtenay “I can’t remember my lines.”
- Ricky Gervais “I’m a control freak, I don’t answer to anyone.
- Bear Grylls “We’ve all got soft and lost the old-world skills.”
- Zaha Hadid “I am the eternal outsider.”
- Matt Haig “The world is having a panic attack.”
- Robert Harris “The internet will send us back to the Dark Ages.”
- Maggi Hambling “We all have war and peace inside us, don’t we?”
- Lewis Hamilton “I can win again.”
- Richard Hammond “The car was burning, that’s why I got out quick.”
- Yuval Noah Harari “Humans are getting an upgrade.”
- Ellie Harrison “I scarred myself to show my love.”
- Paula Hawkins “Success has derailed me …”
- Seamus Heaney “Hello, my dear …”
- Maxine Hilson “My life was torn apart in 18 seconds.”
- Jools Holland “I apologise to Britain.”
- Anthony Horowitz “Idris Elba is too street to play Bond.”
- Barry Humphries “Mortality is on my mind.”
- Celia Imrie “Time to embrace my dark side.”
- Clive James “I thought I was a goner … I’m embarrassed to still be here.”
- Scarlett Johansson “I’m learning how to be alone.’
- Boris Johnson “Could I have a word please, Boris?”
- Wilko Johnson “Man, it makes you feel alive to be told you’re dying.”
- Ruth Jones “The truth is, my husband was married when I met him…”
- Sir Ben Kingsley “There is a dark secret that drives me.”
- Chris Langham “I know I’m not going to be forgiven, but can’t I do good?”
- Dame Vera Lynn “When they talk about the war, will they remember me?”
- Jonathan Miller “The BBC is run by twerps with media studies degrees.”
- Gareth Malone “I wish people would stop making so much noise.”
- Simon Mayo “I thought I’d be in the job until I was 94.”
- Peter Mandelson “How dare you ask that question? That’s outrageous!”
- Lesley Manville “I never expected this late surge of fame, so I’m loving it.”
- Cerys Matthews “My marriage is over, I’m coming home.”
- Rory McIlroy “It’s only golf …”
- Sir Ian McKellen “Stop reading Shakespeare, it can put you off for life.”
- Andy McNab “I’m not hiding anywhere.”
- Kendo Nagasaki “He really beat you up, didn’t he?”
- Jo Nesbo “Yes, I wrote torture porn. I got carried away.”
- Cardinal Nichols “Are you saying God does not exist?”
- Edna O’Brien “I had to grow old before they would give me credit.”
- Sinead O’Connor “I was ready to take my own life.”
- Jamie Oliver “The truth about me and the Missus …”
- David Oyelowo “Falling in love put me at odds with my father.”
- Michael Palin “Donald Trump is too stupid to be Stalin.”
- Michael Parkinson “I’m not sexist … I’m Yorkshire!”
- Robert Peston “I didn’t think it was possible to fall in love again.”
- Kevin Pietersen “I’m insecure. Isn’t everybody?”
- Gregory Porter “My mother told me on her deathbed to be a singer.”
- Sir Philip Pullman “I’m just trying to stop myself from going mad.”
- Gordon Ramsay “I’ve done dangerous things, but never felt as vulnerable as this.”
- Gordon & Tilly Ramsay “The kids know the fame is a result of hard work.”
- Esther Rantzen “My children staged an intervention to save me.”
- Jacob Rees Mogg “The only time my jacket comes off is in the bedroom.”
- Sir Michael Morpurgo “This is why I wear a white poppy and a red one.”
- Susanna Reid “Piers Morgan would start a fight in an empty room.”
- Reeves & Mortimer “I wouldn’t want to do it on my own.”
- Anne Robinson “I must be worth £50 million …”
- Willy Russell “Rita wouldn’t get educated now.”
- Brian Sewell “I’m dying and my friends are stealing from me.”
- Homer Simpson “My beer! D’oh!”
- Terence Stamp “Sex? I’ve been thrown from a horse I clung onto for 60 years …”
- Ringo Starr “The Beatles were lucky to get me.”
- David Suchet “I’ve no regrets about blacking up, it gave me a career.”
- Earl Spencer “I’ve always had a foot in the real world.”
- Lord Sugar “I was selfish and I failed.”
- Sandi Toksvig “I never thought we’d see gay marriage in my lifetime.”
- Pete Townshend “My arrest was one of the best things that ever happened to me.”
- Carol Vorderman “I’m quitting TV to fly solo around the world.”
- Gunther Von Hagens “Welcome to the secret lair of Dr Death.”
- Terry Waite “I’d risk kidnap again to talk to ISIS.”
- Katharine Welby “Depression made me feel I could not go on.”
- Fay Weldon “Women have won.”
- Andrew White “I invited ISIS to dinner. They said they’d chop my head off.”
- David Walliams “If I was more secure in my talent I wouldn’t work so much.”
- Ray Winstone “You and me kid, outside now? Don’t. Be. Daft.”
- Sir Terry Wogan “I don’t believe in God, but if the Grim Reaper turns up …”
- Tiger Woods “I can’t go on like this any more.”