OVERHEARD

THE CRITICS

There's that guy in Russia, what's his name?

Pierce Brosnan, James Bond for the Nineties, when asked who the enemy was, Daily Telegraph

Songs are zooming through the room right now. If I had a guitar or a piano I'd pick one or two up. Receive, transmit. That's songwriting.

Keith Richards, Rolling Stone, Newsweek

No, never. [laughs]

Ibid, when asked if he had ever taken cocaine

The problem is, a culture of poverty has grown up around theatre. It manifests itself in a back-footed, reactive, defensive approach, which isn't useful.

Stephen Daldry, director, Daily Telegraph

People in Wapping are cool... I rollerblade around here.

Cher, singer and actress, Time Out

Differences between societies and their social problems are going to manifest themselves on a cultural level, not on the level of states and public policy.

Francis Fukuyama, writer and thinker, Prospect

Well, leopardskin never really goes out of fashion, does it?

Rod Stewart, musician, London Evening Standard

I've always had an ear for music ... I bit it off a prison governor in Parkhurst.

"Mad" Frankie Fraser,

former gangster, on his debut pop record, Guardian