THEY SAID WHAT?

“I think my grandfather’s reputation can withstand a publicity-seeking assault from a third-rate, Poundland Lenin. I don’t think it will shake the world”

- Tory MP Sir Nicholas Soames, grandson of Winston Churchill who was denounced as “a villain” by shadow chancellor John McDonnell because of his action against striking Welsh miners in 1910.

“It is this ridiculous dieting, cutting out dairy and all the things that are good for your bones. These girls see ‘Skinny Lizzies’ in a magazine and they all want to be thin”

- The Duchess of Cornwall warns

against “fad diets”. “I agree with Marilyn Monroe who said that to remember something new, she had to forget something first to make room for it”

- TV’s Esther Rantzen, above, on one of the inconveniences of ageing.

“I did an interview once with Janet Street-Porter, and it was basically like two seagulls fighting over a chip”

- Chatty Man comedian Alan Carr.

“I was very naive myself, as a parent, of really just how important particularly the early years are for children’s futures. And how critical it is, everyone looking after children at a critical time, teachers, parents, and everyone who’s caring for them, how important it is that we get it right”

- The Duchess of Cambridge. “While you are parading your plumo peachiness poolside, if any shapist bloke makes a negative comment about your fuller figure, just tell him that female scientists discovered the best way to get rid of unwanted fat is divorcing a tubby hubby”