Having been part of this wonderful show ever since series one, I know all too well what it's like to perform to the nation on the famous 'Strictly Come Dancing' dancefloor.

My perfect morning is spent drinking coffee, eating porridge and reading the paper at a local cafe.

I'm busier than ever and it's led to new opportunities. But I've never worried about being rich or famous - for me, it's all about the dancing.

If things don't go fantastically, you just have to deal with it.

I don't like the Samba; it's nonsense. With a lot of these Latin dances I can't really understand what they're all about. I like the Rumba and the Paso Doble but the others I could take or leave.

It's great that ballroom dancing is being recognised. For many years ballroom dancers were misunderstood and other dance forms didn't want anything to do with us.

Ballroom is two people dancing together to music, touching in perfect harmony.

I like to get up and get out. Otherwise you end up kicking about, and it's easy to flick the telly on; then before you know it, it is 11 A.M. and you haven't done anything.

Sadly, it has often been said that my rear is better than my front, so thank you very much indeed.

My goal is to be the best TV presenter, the best entertainer, the best singer. I still want to be the best dancer. I want to be the best at everything I do.

Too many multi-vitamins are packaged as one size fits all, but you should be more specific about what you need. When I was competing as a dancer, I took zinc for healthy skin and immune system.

If the artist reflects only his own culture, then his works will die with that culture. But if his works reflect the eternal and universal, they will revive.

Every man must find his own philosophy, his attitude towards life.

I dislike literary jargon and never use it. Criticism has only one function and that is to help readers read and understand literature. It is not a science, it is an aid to art.

If you look at the way people behave at shows, icons are now musicians; they are the people that we worship.

In our time the only restraint left is self-retraint.

Love is much deeper than a feeling. Love is a commitment we make to people to always treat that person right and honorably.

Life is too short to make an over-serious business out of it.

Out of anger comes controversy, out of controversy comes conversation, out of conversation comes action.

All makers must leave room for acts of the spirit.

When I started you were more in touch with the people you were playing to. There wasn't the distance or the separation that there is now.