"My main thing for music has always been the radio; that’s where I’ve heard things. Around age 5, when I was getting ready for school, my mum would get us up, and we would have breakfast in the kitchen, and the radio would be on. It would be the BBC Radio 2, which is the easy listening station. So I remember hearing a song called “If You Could Read My Mind” by Gordon Lightfoot whilst I was having my hair brushed and trying to keep still—because if you moved when you were having your hair brushed in the morning, my mother used to get in a really bad mood."

"As a huge David Bowie fan who was at the last Ziggy Stardust gig – when he said he was quitting, I remember turning round to my friend and saying, “As if!” – this BBC documentary from a couple of years later felt very special. And very new. It’s the document of Bowie in America, and gets you so close. He’s so vulnerable, sniffing – obviously taking cocaine – and looks like an alien; but when talking Alan Yentob through his old tour outfits, he’s still something of a chirpy cockney lad. The film also shows the sharpness and originality of his musical mind, especially when he’s directing his amazing backing singers through their parts. It’s fascinating to see him at work as a musician"