Quotes from Leslie Bricusse

The film musical is a very strange animal. They can bite you in the back, or they can do very well for you.

It takes a while to get a show on, and I've a number that have not yet been produced. I want to see all of them produced spectacularly before I pack it in.

'Retirement' is a dirty word. Luckily, I can carry on working until I drop, provided I retain my mental abilities.

I'm musical in the sense that I can write a song, but I realised when I was learning the piano as a child that there were people who played it so much better.

Writing songs and lyrics is not that different from doing the 'Times' crossword every morning. They both give you a good mental workout.

I think 'Scrooge' is the best of the Christmas stories. Every child warms to it because it's about one man's transformation. It's saying that it's never too late to change, and that's a good feeling to have at Christmas.

I wanted to grow up to be George and Ira Gershwin from the age of about six.

I was talking to a TV bigwig, and he said, 'Nobody under 35 knows who Sammy Davis is.' Well, you'll hear angry denials of that from younger people.

I think we have to assume we have one life. Though, having said that, I did write a song called 'You Only Live Twice.' I'll settle for that.

As a complete score, I love 'Sherlock Holmes' - but we cast it badly. We put Ron Moody into the part - a great Fagin, not a great Sherlock Holmes.

I don't believe in giving in to old age.

When I wake up, if I can't figure something out during the daytime and then wake up at 4 A.M., it's there immediately. I don't know if it's the subconscious mind working, but it just happens.

I never try to predict what will happen to any project, ever. There are so many factors. Does the public like the subject matter, the way you handle it?