Quotes OF THE WEEK

‘We came out to the piazza and it looked like Dante’s inferno.’ Agostino Severo, who was visiting the historic Italian town of Amatrice when it was destroyed by an earthquake ‘All we can do now is hope that in the next 84 years nobody does anything funny.’ Brendan O’Carroll, after his comedy Mrs Brown’s Boys was voted the best sitcom of the 21st century so far by readers of the Radio Times magazine ‘It’s the ultimate good-guy thing to do. From this point forwards, no one can say I’m selfish. I’ll have the medical evidence that I’m a decent human being.’

Jarlath Regan, Irish comedian, on revealing he is donating a kidney to save his brother’s life ‘I’ve had just two hours’ sleep but I’m not complaining.’ Maggie McEldowney, the new Rose of Tralee, on the morning after her victory ‘It was never in the script that he takes his top off, it just made sense to me. That’s the worst thing about it – it was my bloody idea!’ Aidan Turner, says he never realised appearing bare-chested in Poldark would cause such a stir ‘My dad suggested that I register for a donor card. He’s a man after my own heart’ Masai Graham, stand-up comedian, with the one-liner that won him the prize for funniest joke at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival ‘We don’t do that in the south, you know.’ Mary Berry, slapping down her Merseyside co-host of The Bake-Off, Paul Hollywood, after he dunked a Jaffa Cake in his tea