Melvyn Bragg

“The arts stimulate imagination. They provoke thought. And then, having done that, all sorts of other things happen.”

“We were working class, and you don't lose that. Later on, I bolted on media middle class... and now people like me are in the House of Lords.”

“I'm not a fan of the working class being mocked, including by some of our famous writers - even those who came from it.”

“In 1997, the Labour government set out to strengthen funding for the arts - and achieved it.”

“Grime reminds me, if there is an echo, of sort of near enough like Liverpool in the very early Sixties. It's a lot of kids obsessed with music - obsessed with it.”

“Love of place is one of the characteristics I enjoy most about novelists.”

“Control, like curiosity, can be an exterminator.”

“It is in our culture that we don't want to admit that our culture is good.”

“I got the job I wanted when I was 22, and I'm not going to give it up now.”

“It's amazing that Sky is the only place that has two dedicated arts channels. The BBC is doing very well... but why don't they do more?”

“In music, the Specials brought a city, Coventry, bombed out for a second time and riven with racism, to a celebration between black and white musicians and their music.”

“The success of the arts has come through a mix of public subsidy, substantial private support, and good box-office receipts, but central to Labour's post-1997 programme has been a determination to increase access as much as excellence.”

“Once, the arts were opera, ballet, classical music, and everything else deemed highbrow.”

“I don't get nervous when I'm interviewing someone on film - it can be cut, and we can do it again. It is quite nerve-racking doing things live.”

“Connery made Bond real through his physicality. He did most of his own stunts and fights, and the audience knew it was him.”

“I decided years ago that I am just unfashionable.”

“I've been writing since I was 19.”

“Now, perfectly ordinary people will give each other hugs. I mean, it used to be that a hug was reserved for if you came back from Australia - you know, back in the '40s and '50s.”

“It is very difficult for middle-aged, institutionalised males who have done so well out of subsidy - and, fair play, given much back - to realise that there is a time to be a well-heeled revolutionary.”

“I enjoy what was called 'swotting' in my day.”