Words of the week

AN absolute curse on the earth... encapsulated in our appalling former foreign secretary. – Spy writer John le Carré bemoans those educated at Eton and, in particular, Boris Johnson.

I THINK, in life, it’s happening all the time. I don’t think it’s a hotbed of lust. – Arlene Phillips, a former Strictly Come Dancing judge.

WHEN you get to my age the thing you don’t have to do is take your shoes off on American planes. – Monty Python star Eric Idle, 75.

THE man is an utter fool. The sooner he’s gone, the better for saving our planet. – Tweet by Hull-based media consultant John Meehan, a former editor, on President Donald Trump’s stance on climate change.

THEY don’t hang around in Sussex, do they? – Broadcaster Gyles Brandreth on the short time between the Duchess of Sussex’s wedding to Prince Harry and the announcement that she is pregnant.

WE couldn’t think of a better place to announce the upcoming baby.

– Prince Harry after he and the Duchess announced on their arrival in Australia that they’re expecting their first child.

PEOPLE have paid good money to come and see you be a silly idiot. – Comedian and TV entertainer Bernard Cribbins, 90.

IT’S a bit of a hellhole. I’ve just done an interview and all I can smell is urine. – Snooker star Ronnie OP’Sullivan condemns the venue for the English Open.

OUR private lives were allowed to be much more private. I got away with loads. Of course I did. We all did. It is a children’s programme. We’re adults. We had adult lives. – Former Blue Peter presenter Janet Ellis.

IT did everything it should not. It weed on the floor, it pooed on the floor, it didn’t go where its keeper wanted it to. It was an absolute delight. – Peter Purves, 79, recalls the day in 1969 when a baby elephant went on the set of Blue Peter.

IT’S the old adage that the fish rots from the head. – Tory MP Anne Main during a Commons debate in which calls were made for Speaker John Bercow to quit.