A biography for Arlene Phillipshasn’t been written yet.
“I'm a very generous tipper for my hairdresser and nail technician, and for staff in restaurants who have given a good service. I will always leave a tip, even for bad service.”
“The scary thing is how quickly everyone's star fades. Therefore, to be a voice, you need to do television. You need to stay in the public eye for the public to care about you, to be a big enough voice to help where it is needed.”
“When I was 23, I moved to London. It was not an easy thing to do.”
“Saturdays have become like, you know, the Boomtown Rats - 'I Don't Like Mondays.' I don't like Saturdays.”
“I travel light obsessively. I take hardly any clothes or shoes because I think that all I need is a couple of work outfits, rehearsal outfits, a pair of trainers and one glamorous outfit you can re-wear and re-wear.”
“I'm short, stocky and have a big bum.”
“I carry cash around with me all the time as I like buying dancers I'm working with snacks and drinks, but I also use my Amex card and a Coutts Visa card, which I always pay off in full every month. I hate the idea of being in debt.”
“When day-to-day living became too difficult for him, my father moved to a residential home near me and although he'd never had any sort of dementia test, he gradually became unable either to eat or go to the toilet on his own. Eventually the staff found him too difficult to manage.”
“Not only was I not a good dancer, I was one of the worst. I didn't have the long thin legs, and I didn't have natural turnout. The only thing I had was determination.”
“My career has just been fantastic - but most importantly, I have an amazing family.”
“Funny enough, apart from when I was at school, I've always gone out with younger men - I was even married briefly to one prior to Angus.”
“All I can say is that I am the biggest coward in the world, I'm not courageous!”
“If tacky souvenirs like fridge magnets and slogan T-shirts are your thing, you'll be in your element in Las Vegas.”
“If you don't have an academic brain, if you are not interested in maths or science, you are treated as a second-class citizen.”
“I think dancing always took me to a different place. It was hard and it was a struggle, but it took me to the kind of place I wanted to live in. It wasn't real life.”
“Women follow me around. On a British Airways flight, at Liverpool station - everywhere.”
“I've always been a late-developer.”
“I don't believe in destiny. But what I do think is that if you listen with your ears, and look with your eyes, something that doesn't appear to be an opportunity can lead to one.”
“Sometimes I'll feel content dieting - if I could only bottle that feeling!”
“I was probably around 14 or 15 when I became really conscious of those girls who were going on to the Royal Ballet school, and that I was not Royal Ballet school material, not by a long stretch.”