I have no control over people's perceptions of me at all and that's one of the things I decided very early on is that I can't control the way other people think of me. All I can do especially when it comes to my career is go out there and do cool unique kinds of things.

When I decided to launch my first knitwear line it was because I saw a void in the basics category. The editors were always looking for cool fashion-forward tees and sweaters. So that's where I started.

People feel that the EU is a one-way process a great machine that sucks up decision-making from national parliaments to the European level until everything is decided by the EU. That needs to change.

Close elections tend to break toward the challenger because undecided voters - having held out so long against the incumbent - are by nature looking for change.

When I decided to get married at 40 I couldn't find a dress with the modernity or sophistication I wanted. That's when I saw the opportunity for a wedding gown business.

Surround yourself with the best people you can find delegate authority and don't interfere as long as the policy you've decided upon is being carried out.

When I first thought of the idea for 'Sweet Valley High ' I loved the idea of high school as microcosm of the real world. And what I really liked was how it moved things on from 'Sleeping Beauty'-esque romance novels where the girl had to wait for the hero. This would be girl-driven very different I decided - and indeed it is.

Tramping is too easy with all this money. My days were more exciting when I was penniless and had to forage around for my next meal... I've decided that I'm going to live this life for some time to come. The freedom and simple beauty of it is just too good to pass up.

I decided that if I could paint that flower in a huge scale you could not ignore its beauty.

I was very much into buying contemporary art but I've just decided I want to get rid of it all. Not that it's not great art but all of a sudden my mood has changed and I want to go back to seventeenth- and eighteenth-century masters.