"The first album I had bought for me was ‘Sgt Pepper’s…’, but the first I bought for myself was ‘Nice Enough To Eat’, an Island sampler. As kids, we could never afford albums so everyone bought this, it was cheap – 99p. They were all quite hip groups – it had ‘21st Century Schizoid Man’, my first exposure to King Crimson, and ‘Time Has Told Me’ by Nick Drake. At the time being a Nick Drake fan was a very lonely life, but I was always into him.”"

"I always mention this but no one goes out to see it. I love this idea of courage and that’s what gets you to the next level. I think Meryl Streep — who’s always good — it was so nice to see her as just a person and not a refugee who had to make a choice between her two children or whatever it was. No accent, no anything, just sort of Meryl Streep being sexy and being Meryl Streep. You’re not used to seeing her that way."

"If you were ever bullied, as I was, you probably dreamed of being a little French boy who had a magical red balloon that, together with all the other balloons in Paris, would pick you up for a trip above the city to a place far away. You didn’t? I didn’t really either. I actually wanted a gun, but this nice little movie was a safer fantasy. If you are being bullied, by the way, it’s clearly a mistake to hold on to your balloon."