Celebrity quotes

RICHARD GERE

“I never wanted to be a celebrity, let alone a sex symbol. But it goes with the acting career if you are successful.”

LULU

“Thank God I’m not that awful ‘D’ word – desperate. Once you get desperate, you can smell it a mile away.”

MARTIN COMPSTON

“There was a woman in her nineties who would send me saucy cards. I was 21.”

PRUE LEITH

“I have seen food trends from rationing in the war to molecular gastronomy, and nothing makes me more annoyed than ‘clean eating’.”

RUSSELL BRAND

“Right. If Noel Fielding can do Bake Off I’m replacing Len on Strictly.”

PERCY GIBSON

“My wife must only be addressed as Dame Joan because she is a member of the aristocracy now.” (Joan Collins’ husband sets the record straight)

JACQUELINE BISSET

“I turned him down, but it might have been fun if I hadn’t.” (on rejecting Frank Sinatra’s advances)

JACK WHITEHALL

“I go out and probably drink too much on tour and say the odd thing that gets me in trouble.”

PROFESSOR STEPHEN HAWKING

“I can tell you what will make me happy: to travel in space. Richard Branson has offered me a seat on Virgin Galactic.”

10 JASON DONOVAN

“On the eve of my 50th birthday, I believe I am finally in a position to put my life into perspective.”