"Olney is one of the great recipe writers, because all of his recipes work. He was a painter, and channels that vivid language into make his recipes come to life on the page."

"The clarity of prose which Ishiguro achieves in this novel is the treat here. He is a master of the sentence, a sorcerer of language; the writing here is quiet, calm, and mesmerizing."

"I’m just obsessed by Lionel Bart. He’s just an amazing character. When you get someone like him who really understood Dickens, you’re away, it’s a chain of brilliant people. I think these songs are very similar to what dad was writing, I mean he pre-empted him, Lionel Bart, but ‘Pam’s Moods’ and Oliver are really similar in the construction of language. The language is so fucking brilliant in Oliver, the melodies, it’s just unbelievable songwriting. That 1960 production, Ron Moody who plays Fagin is particularly brilliant."