Quotes from Sue Perkins

A great conductor is an alchemical force: someone who can absorb the historical weight of a famous melody, the expectations of an audience, and the mercurial brilliance of a host of musicians, and shape them all to his or her interpretative ends.

Sometimes I get into the mindset that being heterosexual is a brave new world, because you can conceive, and you work out the rest of it once you're pregnant.

I'm so in love with David Dimbleby.

I read a lot when I was at college, but really, only a few of Dickens's books work for me.

Before he died, my dad had three primary cancers over 20 years, and for four of those years, he was having chemo every day. We got used to sitting as a family at the table and him not to be able to taste what we were tasting.

I have an almost entirely written correspondence with a few friends of mine who are really busy. We exchange quite long and sometimes quite whimsical, sometimes quite meaningful, sometimes silly letters.

I love watching birds of prey and stags.

I'm not fashionable.

Because I'm busy, I don't sit down to a lot of big formal meals - unless I've got mates round, in which case I'll cook something.

I'd never been one for leaving the comforts of home. That person wasn't me; I didn't spend my formative years youth-hostelling round Rwanda or climbing Everest in a tie-dye playsuit to raise awareness of something or other.

I'm OK with my appearance. I have made my peace with it after a long and frankly exhausting battle.

I don't have it in my personality to be frightened of things.

I don't really drink, but the one thing I really hanker after is Zubrowka vodka. If it's someone's birthday, I'll pretend I like red wine for about three sips.

It's so hard to do the right thing with a pen and a piece of paper and a set of abstract thoughts.

Dogs are fur repositories for everything you can't say to humans.

People have tried to glam me up over the years, but it just doesn't work.

You can love food without being a cook. Equally, you can love food and be a very good cook.

I'm a good cook, but I can't bake.

It was a privilege to experience life beyond the cliches and to witness the vibrancy, chaos, and multiculturalism of Bengal first hand.

The great thing about ageing is that your eyesight deteriorates at the same rate as your face. So I can't see how bad things are getting.

I'm desperate to be in the same room as Katie Hopkins. There are a few things I'd like to say to her, really calmly. I'd just like to put forward a case for her to integrate the 'her' that she pretends to be on TV with the 'her' she is as a real person.

Long hair doesn't look good on me because my hair is fine.

I've always thrown myself into love in a rather carefree way, and the net result is that you do get hurt. But I wouldn't take away any of the experiences of my life.

Whatever the critics make of 'Maestro,' I hope they don't call it a reality show.