We never really had any kind of a Christmas. This is one part where my memory fails me completely.

Actually my mother and Alfie came for three weeks' Christmas vacation and stayed for 21 years. I guess my mother never went back because she was lonely.

What I'm not saying is that all government spending is bad. It's not - far far from it but there is no free lunch as a former colleague of mine used to say. There is no public tooth fairy. Father Christmas does not work on the Treasury staff this year. You can never bail someone out of trouble without putting someone else into trouble.

There's never really been a real hood Christmas movie.

According to an ancient Sardinian legend the bodies of those who are born on Christmas Eve will never dissolve into dust but are preserved until the end of time.

He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree.

When you're a chef you graze. You never get a chance to sit down and eat. They don't actually sit down and eat before you cook. So when I finish work the first thing I'll do and especially when I'm in New York I'll go for a run. And I'll run 10 or 15k on my - and I run to gain my appetite.

Actresses can get outrageously precious about the way they look. That's not what life's about. If you starve yourself to the point where your brain cells shrivel you will never do good work. And if you're overly conscious of your arms flapping in the wind how can you look the other actor in the eye to respond to them?

The outward work will never be puny if the inward work is great.

My wife whenever I'd go off to work and I'd be kind of anxious she'll say 'Remember have fun.' Oh I forgot thanks for the reminder. Because sometimes we do forget. We take it all too seriously and there's a lot of joy to be had wherever you are.