"Just because someone's dead doesn't mean it's over. My grandfather died more than 25 years ago, but I still think of him a lot and smell his smell."

"I'm currently in an interesting correspondence with a nun about forgiveness."

"I'm not sure how aware of the rest of the world I am. I live a rather sheltered existence."

"A lot of gay men have a lot of sex. That's what we do. But I've stopped all that-the revolving door into my bedroom. Promiscuity. That was of its day, really."

"I thought they were staring at me because I was gay. But it was because I was on the telly."

"I am full of gratitude for my life - and for this house."

"I get just as much of a thrill out of constructing a good sentence that gets a laugh at the end as I do from a joke."

"It's almost a way of life. I know what makes me laugh."

"However light-hearted you try to be about it, the loss of youth, and everything that goes with it, is quite a trauma."

"The English like eccentrics. They just don't like them living next door."

"I think Australians like a bit of vulgarity."

"It was all about wanting to get revenge. Pathetic, really, but it still is the motivation."

"The public has always had affection for gay entertainers. The time was right for an out gay entertainer."

"I thought a dignified thing to do would be to live in the country by the time I'm 50 and write books."

"I knew that this was what I wanted to talk about on stage. There was no point being coy about it, or pretending that I wasn't gay. That was the substance of my whole act. If you took that away, there would be nothing left."

"Rodents can come across as being quite vacant in the personality stakes."

"The whole business of getting famous was good fun, but it was a long time ago."

"If I've been here a long time, I think: I must go to London and speak to someone or see a bus."

"I've found a more personal, pagan kind of religion to satisfy the spiritual side of things."

"I live in a kind of gay bubble. I live in a gay house, I drive a gay car. I eat gay food."

"The good thing about getting older is that, as you become less attractive, so you have less desire to go out and conquer everyone you see."