Tim Rice

“I like to write in fairly everyday language - I've always tried to write lyrics that, if people would speak the words, it wouldn't sound like a song.”

“I hope 'Chess' will hit the big screen. It seems a natural to me. Good venues, tunes, and politics.”

“Most of my friends tend to be people who I've known since I was at school.”

“I worked in a petrol station on the A1 one summer. I enjoyed it except when I was on latrine duty.”

“I am sure if you went back to the days of 'My Fair Lady,' they would have had one public dress rehearsal, and that is it. And in a way, I would like to go back to that.”

“I have a fear of doing stuff that's not very good and being remembered for that.”

“The biggest lesson I had in my life was failure.”

“I always wanted to swim the Channel, which is insane.”

“Very few artistic partnerships last more than 10 years, and if they do they tend to go down the tubes.”

“I have radios everywhere around the house, very old battered ones that I've had for years and years. None of them are digital.”

“I love watching 'Pointless.'”

“I recently declined to support a Conservative function because I'm so incensed about these wind turbines. Like all so-called climate-change doubters, I am very pro the environment, but I strongly believe that it is something that can only be cured locally. Some insane overall scheme isn't going to cure all the problems.”

“Digital is a disaster. No digital radio has the correct time and they don't even agree with each other.”

“If you now have 20 previews, you will regard 19 of them as super-rehearsals, which is fine, except you are being watched by thousands. I remember suggesting on more than one show over the years, 'Let's not have any previews.' But no one agreed with me. If you could do that, however, it would be a great gimmick - no previews, just opening night.”

“I think Barry Gibb would be a wonderful person to work with. Because he just writes good tunes.”

“September is my favourite month, particularly in Cornwall. I felt, even as a child, that if you get a wonderful day in September, you think: 'This could be one of the last, the summer is nearly over.' If you get a wonderful day in May, you think: 'So what, there's more coming.'”

“You've got to have a young element in a show. Any project needs youth and dynamism as well old codgerdom and experience.”

“I am sure if you went back to the days of 'My Fair Lady,' they would have had one public dress rehearsal, and that is it. And in a way, I would like to go back to that. Now you have people tweeting and blogging immediately, so you may as well regard your first preview as your opening night because you are going to get reviews.”

“It's a cliche, but most people are good at something, and most people are good at what they're enthusiastic about.”

“One of the problems with musicals and opera is you can't ever hear all the words.”