Quotes from Sheila Hancock

When I started in the business there were no women in executive positions, no women producers or directors and certainly no camerawomen and we were destined to do very archetypal roles, very cliched things, so I was a dizzy blonde for years.

On 'The X Factor,' they deliberately have people on that are awful just to laugh at them.

I think why I'm sometimes fearless is because I've found, and this comes with age, if you challenge something your fear goes away.

Mindful that it's running out, I am determined to have the time of my life.

I'm wildly left wing, but I'm also a terrible chauvinist.

I always keep my script in the wings - a hangover from my rep days when we had no prompter and, if all else failed, I would make an excuse and rush off the stage to have a quick look.

I'm always guilt-ridden if I give a bad performance. If you're doing a theatrical run, your day has to be geared to that show. You can't mess about, particularly when you get to my age.

As a Quaker, I aspire to be a pacifist.

I'm not a good Quaker, really I'm not, but it's a lovely thing to aspire to.

I don't want my daughters reading about the day I was furious with one of them and said something horrible, that I didn't mean, except on that particular day.

My own efforts at peacemaking have been easy - in fact, rather enjoyable: CND marches, demos, protest meetings in Trafalgar and Grosvenor Squares, and visits to the women at Greenham, especially the glorious day in 1983 when thousands of us embraced the base and pinned beautiful pictures and objects to the ugly wire.

I wish I could say I was wise and clever, but I'm really not.

I've always used diaries to pour out my feelings at the end of each day, as a sort of therapy.

I'm a realist.

I like being on my own, but at times when I don't, I'll phone a friend or the grandchildren.

Being a grandma is lovely.

I can't think of anybody among the greats who isn't constantly looking at themselves and feeling dissatisfied. You're greedy in this business: always wanting to prove you can do more. I don't ever remember a time when I've said, My God, I've cracked it - this is lovely.

I sometimes buy the Daily Mail and hide it in my Guardian.

Learning a musical instrument is challenging, it demands fine motor skills and coordination. It develops children's listening, thinking skills, imagination and perseverance. It brings out the very best in the children as they work collaboratively with their peers and teachers.

I think in some reality shows people are chosen because they are laughably bad, so that the nation and the panel and everybody else can laugh at them.

In my early music-loving days, I thought Beethoven was a bit bombastic, a bit heroic, a bit, well, big.

My husband John Thaw worked with many directors, some of whom cut their teeth working on the 'Sweeney,' 'Kavanagh QC' and 'Morse' before going on to illustrious careers.

My first husband Alec was a very good-looking man, but by the time he came out of the war, his sort of acting was no longer in demand - although he was a working-class boy, he was actually very good at suave handsome-men parts. I began to get successful when he was out of fashion; it was agony to watch him.

I was this sort of floozy in 'The Rag Trade,' and 'Mr Digby Darling,' and 'Now, Take My Wife' - the titles say it all.