Up until about 12 years ago we never, ever, wore flak jacket or helmets but now the nastiness has got worse.

People always seem to assume that we have a full, back-up support team - make-up, costume and a driver - but usually, in a war zone, there's only me and the cameraman.

On the Northern Ireland question, for instance, the British and Irish governments prohibit media contact with members of the IRA, but we have always gone ahead, believing in the right to information.

Hair is also a problem. I remember once, when I was reporting from Beirut at the height of the civil war, someone wrote in to the BBC complaining about my appearance.

I have no time for the endless nostalgia: 'Oh gosh I used to . . . ' Life is too short; I don't have any time for sitting and saying I miss things. What's the point? Go and do something else.'

My job is to get to the heart of a story, to find out what's really going on; to get it verified and, then, to get it out to as many people as possible as fast as.

I don't want to be involved in endless media gossip.

I was sent to a nice Church of England girls' school and at that time, after university, a woman was expected to become a teacher, a nurse or a missionary - prior to marriage.

The better the information it has, the better democracy works. Silence and secrecy are never good for it.

I never desired to go into war zones. I never had any thought about it. It sort of just happened as part of the job.

I wrote in the book very specifically what I wanted to write about, period, and left it at.

Life is art.

A flower cannot be more beautiful than your thoughts.

Perfection is an everlasting goal to pursue. It reminds us that we are mortal beings capable of making mistakes. When we correct them, it gives us an opportunity to become better people.

But how can we know that dragons did not exist? We have never actually BEEN to the Dark Ages.

I will always speak out when someone says that a principle or a rule or a tradition trumps people.

The world will be for the common people, and the sounds of Happiness will reach even the deepest springs.

With the guitar I've suffered a great deal, but when I've had a good time, the suffering seemed worthwhile.

Since there is absolutely no logical reason to assume there is an afterlife, I decided to make the life I have now as much fun as possible.

The people who know me, the people who see the passion I have for this game and the respect for it, they know that I don't cut any corners in the way I approach golf.

I think I now understand why it is that the young are so very nostalgic. They have so little by way of personal history that they polish it up and make it shine like a treasured heirloom.