“I feel closer to the artist I was when I was 19 now then I have done in other stages of my career.”

People think it’s a betrayal of authenticity if you do something different.

And its sonic connections, it’s a sense of harmony that I think we all have even if we don’t know how to express it – it’s something musical, it’s synapse connections in our brain.

My modus operandi has always been understatement and that just doesn’t really work in pop.

I think, when all bands start, when you’re on your first album you have the benefit of hoovering up people who genuinely come across the music and really like it, but also those sort of ‘floating voters’ who just like pop music when they’re young.

I think you have to start taking a few risks and sometimes they don’t pay off.

I’ve been very fortunate in my collaborators throughout my career.

Take motherhood: nobody ever thought of putting it on a moral pedestal until some brash feminists pointed out, about a century ago, that the pay is lousy and the career ladder nonexistent.

I’ve spent various periods of my career being thought of as various things, various degrees of substance and ideas.

Error can point the way to truth, while empty-headedness can only lead to more empty-headedness or to a career in politics.

How could you not wanna be in Doctor Who at least once in your career?

Unfortunately, my career is increasingly leading me into rooms where everybody is funny.

I think I’m the funniest guy in a room full of unfunny people. Unfortunately, my career is increasingly leading me into rooms where everybody is funny. I’m the least funny person in a room full of funny people.

You have to transfer your success on the track to your education, because you don’t want to waste what you did athletically once your athletic career is over.