I went to drama school but it was very hard to get work until I was made assistant stage manager.

I met Picasso when I was a kid. I turned one of his drawings down which would be worth £37 million now. My dad wouldn't talk to me for a fortnight.

I've become quite a serious explorer: I've been to Everest three times; I'm the oldest man to reach the North Pole; and I've just been to the lost world of Venezuela.

The greatest danger in life is not taking chances. There are so many negative people wanting to grind you down, but you can't let them. If people say you are mad, you know you're on the right track.

Wishing kindness and compassion to all living creatures.

The misapprehension about me is that I am some loud, rampant maniac. I am actually very pensive and quiet.

There will be no funeral! Before I get too old and ill, I'll go to South America and live among the Pemon people and meditate. When the time is right, they can throw my body into the volcano.

I fed my Yak on my spare Cadbury chocolate 21,0000ft up Everest. It was a blonde, very sweet female Yak. I made it my pet after that.

In the news this week, the polls continue to slide for Gordon Brown and some people are saying he's dead and buried. But I think the opposite - I say GORDON'S ALIVE!

I'll never retire. The new millennium is the age of adventure as far as I am concerned. I'm going up a volcano and off into space.

My dream is to own a Hockney - I'm a Yorkshireman, and his vibrant colours are a good example of how the north-country people are vibrant and colourful.

I’ve been drunk for about a week now, and I thought it might sober me up to sit in a library.

ThiNKing Too MucH caN DisTurbs Your Other ImPortaNt StraTegies :p SO StoP thiNking taKe ActiOn :p

Everything human is pathetic. The secret source of humor itself is not joy but sorrow. There is no humor in heaven.

Given a limited budget, the most effective expenditure of funds to improve a street would probably be on trees.

I would love it if anyone gave me the job of adapting 'The Great Gatsby,' but nobody ever does.

I love meeting people who have absolutely no sense of irony. It's really fascinating to imagine what it would be like to go through life without understanding even the most basic of ironies.

For me, science is just a bunch of tools - it's like playing the violin.

The landscape of my childhood was one of fierce occupation by trees.

A little flattery makes people feel good about themselves. When you notice someone looking great, give them a compliment.

I'm dubious about having Social Security put into the stock market. I think that we have gotten very far away from the idea that there's something sacrosanct about retirement investments.