I first decided to become an actor at school. A teacher gave us a play to do and that had a major impact. At first I wanted to work in the theatre but there was something about the ambience of film especially American films that always attracted me.

I always wanted to be a teacher.

My mother wanted me to be a teacher. She had this vision of me walking across the quadrangle in an Oxford college wearing my academic gown.

My mother wanted to be a teacher when she was young and my father didn't approve of it so she fought very hard to become one. And she did it. So when I said I wanted to become an actress my mother was very supportive. She always said to me 'There's no such thing as 'can't.'

In my teens I developed a passionate idolatry for a teacher of English literature. I wanted to do something that he would approve of more so I thought I should be some sort of a scholar.

All I wanted was to be a university teacher.

It was my family that wanted me to be a teacher. That was safe you see. To be a painter was terrible.

Once I understood Bach's music I wanted to be a concert pianist. Bach made me dedicate my life to music and it was that teacher who introduced me to his world.

I didn't read so much Japanese literature. Because my father was a teacher of Japanese literature I just wanted to do something else.

Faulkner turned out to be a great teacher. When a student asked a question ineptly he answered the question with what the student had really wanted to know.