As we celebrate the 100th issue of the Surrey Downs Magazine, we look back on some of our favourite quotes from our celebrity interviews
ON HUMOUR
Tadworth born and bred Harry Potter actor Warwick Davis, December 2011:
“So many people take themselves too seriously, it must be such hard work. I couldn’t do that at all.”
Sports broadcaster, Des Lynam, December 2005:
“I went from being a great broadcaster – or at least a very acceptably good one – to being a somewhat inadequate one overnight. That’s not true is it? That can’t possibly be right. But what they didn’t like was the brand.”
ON LUCK
Reigate resident and broadcaster Nicholas Owen, December 2007:
“I do remind myself often how lucky I’ve been. I stood on the decks of the Royal Yacht Britannia in Cape Town during the Queen’s first visit to South Africa after apartheid. There was Table Mountain on one side, the berth from which Nelson Mandela was taken from Robben Island on the other, and I was talking to the Queen. Not bad for a lad who left school at 17 with the equivalent of five GCSEs.”
ON POLITICS
Former politician and broadcaster Michael Portillo, April 2008:
“With Blair, people thought they were electing Bambi, but they ended up with a chisel-jawed war leader. Policy evolves, which leads me to think that the only thing worth voting for is character.”
Former politician Tony Benn, January 2009 and February 2013:
“I listened to Tony Blair’s speech, left the room and collapsed. He wrote and said he hoped it wasn’t anything he’d said. I was too polite to reply.”
“My life is like a permanent by-election except I’m not the candidate and there’s no polling day.”
Ex-MP Edwina Currie, January 2007:
“We were crushed at the polls and Major didn’t have a clue how responsible he was for that and how many lives he’d damaged. He was creating am image for himself as an innocent abroad.”
ON LIFE
Actress and author Maureen Lipman, October 2006:
“Part of you feels that you’re playing a role and the run will be over soon.”
Adventurer and broadcaster Ben Fogle, November 2006:
“I was a quitter as a child. There is probably an element of me trying to prove that I am not a quitter now.”
ON GRIEF
Radio 4 broadcaster Libby Purves, May 2010:
“Sometimes it’s freezing, sometimes stifling hot; sometimes it’s narrow, sometimes it widens out like St Pancras Station, getting wider and wider to take in all the stars, the sun, the universe. But you’re always in it. At times it’s a good habitat, other times bad. But you’ve got to expect that the tunnel will always go on and you will always be in it.”
ON HONESTY
Magician Derren Brown, February 2008 and March 2011:
“I am often dishonest in my techniques, but I’m always honest about my dishonesty.”
ON AMBITION
Spandau Ballet star and actor Martin Kemp, June 2010:
“I wanted to be Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali and Bruce Lee. Their sort of fame, their sort of charisma: that’s what I aspired to.”
ON CAMARADERIE
Rugby World Cup 2003 winner Josh Lewsey, May 2013:
“In sport there is the same sense of purpose and camaraderie as in the forces. When you leave that life, some of those aspects disappear and it is tough.”
ON HEAVEN
Author, presenter and ex-MP Gyles Brandreth, October 2007:
“I was once told that everyone goes to heaven, it’s just that bad people don’t enjoy it.”
ON NIGHTMARES
Businessman and Caterham resident David Gold, March 2010:
“I used to have a recurring nightmare that I’d lost all my money and had to go back to 442 Green Street (East London) with my trowel and spirit level! But in the dream, I was still in my Bentley – I’ve no idea why!”
Entrepreneur and Surrey resident Theo Paphitis, November 2009:
“I have just one O-level for colouring in maps, but in fact take the view that every day is an opportunity to learn something new.”
ON SURREY
Actress and Guildford resident Penelope Keith, May 2008:
“It’s not all gin and jags round here, you know. There are some marvelously rural parts. You leave London and you are very quickly in deep countryside. People don’t realise what Surrey has to offer.”
Status Quo frontman and Purley resident, Francis Rossi, July 2006:
“I have been to so many places in the world, but when it comes down to it, there’s nothing like Surrey.”
