“I think it’s really easy to forget that – I’d sooner play something musical than flash, and as I can’t play anything flash.”

Things inspiring me – good melody, a great bass line, a fabulous voice… by which I mean someone who sounds great, rather than does pyrotechnics… and people playing really musically.

Our cheeky sidekick. We’re like a motorcycle and sidecar.

It’s a weight problem isn’t it; you can’t wait for lunch.

The thing that interests me far more than anything is creating music, songwriting and arranging, and in that context drumming itself is a means to an end.

The harder you work, the luckier you get” is true in all things.

The American dream? We don’t have a dream in Britain because we’re bloody awake!

When I showed an interest in drumming, he showed me how to mummy-daddy roll and that set me up for a bit.

I love playing. In lots of ways, I think having been able to carry on playing purely out of love rather than having to do it for a living means I still love the drums.

You can leave a kid alone and it will learn to fend for itself, how to work the remote, a tin opener, and the microwave.

We need a war every 10 years, so we can stay match fit in case the Germans try again.

In the world of comedy, there’s this: “If it’s going badly, get off. If it’s going well, get off”. You can’t argue with that either.

I’m a natural born show off. I love performing, and at school we had a really good music scene and an even better drama scene.

When I got to university, I played in bands and did sketch stuff and it was always about coming up with material, which is why I never really practised and have no chops!!

I see the holidays as a chance for kids to learn self-sufficiency.

And to be honest, it’s all about the sound, the noise, the rattle and hum. Who wouldn’t want to make a fantastic noise with drums and cymbals?!

I try to be musical. Drums can set a mood, create an impression, as much as anything else.

There’s only one thing i know for certain anymore.” he turned, his eyes a clear black. “that i would do anything for you, even if it means going against mu instincts or my very nature. I would lay down everything i possess, even my soul, for you. If that isn’t love, it’s the best i have.

Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly — they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.

It doesn’t prove anything except that you’re bullying us. Which, as I recall, is a sign of cowardice.

Successful people have a bigger fear of failure than people who’ve never done anything because if you haven’t been successful, then you don’t know how it feels to lose it all.

Translation is entirely mysterious. Increasingly I have felt that the art of writing is itself translating, or more like translating than it is like anything else.

Children are game for anything. I throw them hard words, and they backhand them over the net. They love words that give them a hard time, provided they are in a context that absorbs their attention.

I had practiced not saying anything the whole way from the airport, and it was still nearly killing me.

I made up my mind long ago that life was too short to do anything for myself that I could pay others to do for me.