At school there was an annual school disco and I'd be standing in my bedroom wondering what to wear for hours on end. Eventually I'd arrive at a decision that was just the most ridiculous costume you could have ever devised - I think it was probably knitted Christmas jumpers on top of buttoned-up white shirts.

Every Christmas now for years I have found myself wondering about the point of the celebration. As the holiday has become more ecumenical and secular it has lost much of the magic that I remember so fondly from childhood.

First of all I've been having a wonderful run of luck with cover albums songs I didn't write. I had five pop cover albums and two Christmas albums and they were all very successful.

It can't be overstated how wonderful it is not to have to audition any more. Any actor will tell you it's like Christmas.

At Christmas 'It's a Wonderful Life' makes me cry in exactly the same places every time even though I know it's coming.

You can't get there by bus only by hard work and risk and by not quite knowing what you're doing. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover will be yourself.

Be aware of wonder. Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.

Hairdressers are a wonderful breed. You work one-on-one with another human being and the object is to make them feel so much better and to look at themselves with a twinkle in their eye.

I like the challenge of trying different things and wondering whether it's going to work or whether I'm going to fall flat on my face.

Despite the encouraging and wonderful gains and the changes for women which have occurred in my lifetime there is still room to advance and to promote correction of the remaining deficiencies and imbalances.