overheard

You learn never to speak ill of musicals ... I think there's even a Little Red Sondheim Book.

Peter Gill, Director of Cardiff East, Guardian

There's only so much you get out of standing in a corner pretending you're a fish, which is what some acting training seems like to me.

Jeffrey Wright, who plays the lead in Basquiat, Telegraph

I can only eat three prunes a day now. I'm immense compared with what I was.

Dame Muriel Spark, on the diet imposed on her by her medication, Sunday Telegraph

All you need is an elementary education, and a pencil and paper.

Dame Muriel Spark's advice to would-be novelists, ibid

It took me a little time to pluck up the courage to know that appreciating pictures didn't rule out laughing at them.

Alan Bennett, Guardian

I've got a face for radio - I'm rather shy and don't like being looked at.

Helen Mayhew, Radio 2 presenter, Radio Times

I go to pieces over small furry things.

Iain Fletcher, actor from The Bill, on cats, Radio Times

I had only two ambitions, to make my life in the theatre and to get a girlfriend.

Ben Elton, Sunday Telegraph

You get flowers, things from cosmetics companies, it's great. I even got this stuff from a company that makes diarrhoea medicine and the message was like, you'll need it when you go on stage.

Marianne Jean-Baptiste, actress and Oscar nominee, Time Out

I pinned her to the ground and demanded an apology.

Woody Harrelson, actor, on eventually meeting a very tardy Courtney Love, ibid