Maureen Cleave

“With a PR man at his side, the quote would never have got into my notebook, let alone the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, where it ended up. As it was, the Evening Standard didn't even put it in the headline. We were used to him sounding off like that and knew it was ironically meant. But the Americans have little sense of irony, and when the article appeared in a magazine called Dateline, all hell broke loose. It was the last time the Beatles ever toured.”

“The lines on his forehead arrange themselves in an odd chequered pattern, like a puzzle waiting to be filled in — or are, perhaps, a reflection of his past.”

“Many people work hard to get their names into the newspapers. For Tariq Ali it is enough to fill in an application form to join the Labour Party, enclosing a cheque for £5, and he makes the front page of The Times.”