A biography for Gyles Brandrethhasn’t been written yet.
“I made that great mistake of trying to be funny.”
“When you are standing in a corner at the party, when you've arrived early for the meeting, when the doors have closed but the lift won't start, there's nothing worse than being lost for words.”
“We did marry in secret and it was several years before we even told our parents that we were married.”
“A humorous quotation is a little window on the world that gives life a comic twist.”
“'An Audience With Kenneth Williams.' My wife and I went with him to the recording. He was paid £10,000, the largest fee he had ever received and was so nervous he was shaking. But his performance was matchless. He knew it was the best thing he'd ever done.”
“Long after Mae West is forgotten, her words will live on.”
“I mean, I am relatively pleased with myself and the world. But I don't assume that I'm liked.”
“I was lucky enough to know Prince Philip in his prime - the most dynamic man I have ever met. And I was privileged to know him almost to the end.”
“The fact that the Meghan and Harry interview was aired while Philip was in hospital did not trouble him. What did worry him was the couple's preoccupation with their own problems and their willingness to talk about them in public.”
“There's nothing so unemployable as a man in his 50s who's no longer on the winning side.”
“If you were doing a Des O'Connor show, you were in safe hands.”
“Indeed, the Duke of Edinburgh's disdain for his eldest son was all the more shocking because he made little or no attempt to hide it.”
“Prince Philip is very contrary. He challenges everything.”
“Playing games can contribute to making you happy, perhaps even without therapy.”
“I suppose I am instinctively flirtatious. But not exclusively to women. I want to be liked.”
“Prince Philip was a funny man who liked to laugh and make others laugh.”
“A chap can go too far in the pursuit of authenticity.”
“I wanted to have a house near his grave, and that's exactly what I did get. When I woke up in the morning, I would open my window and look out upon Holy Trinity Church, where Shakespeare's grave is. Not once did it fail to move me.”
“Prince Philip had formally 'retired' in the summer of 2017, a couple of months after his 96th birthday, because the Queen encouraged him to do so. She wanted to stop him 'pushing himself all the time'. She had become anxious about him.”
“I've learnt that you've got to accept the audience you've got.”