We go through life owned by the stories we tell ourselves which are often historic and charged narratives - things we've learnt since childhood that we don't even consciously realise are going on.
For every moment of concentration there is an equal moment of relaxation.
Magic has both feet planted in cheap vaudeville and childish posturing; in dishonesty and therefore not in art.
The people who are most susceptible to hypnosis - the rugger bugger types - were also the ones who intimidated me most at school, so on an unconscious level I suppose I'm turning the tables on them.
A magic trick of any sort works because you tell yourself a story about what you see. And politicians use this all the time in their own way by throwing a load of statistics at you when things don't quite follow and then saying, 'So therefore blah,' and you believe that 'blah' thing because of the confusion that's come before.
I'm finally having my TV removed and replaced by a tropical fish tank, which I hope will provide more interesting viewing.
Guilt's too strong a word, but there is this niggling worry that I'm a grown-up doing a childish job and it would be nice to do something more useful and to reach a number of people with an idea you think is important.
I'm probably a little shyer than people imagine.
In terms of self-esteem and confidence I think I'm generally quite healthy.
Since turning 40 I happily moisturise - I have what's called a regime - but I'm always in two minds because I have no idea if I'm completely wasting my money. They feel nice when they are on but I can't stop wondering, 'Am I succumbing to the same nonsense I try to fight against in other areas?'
I'm very interested in how we take ownership of our own stories and our own lives.
I came across the idea of running towards the things that frighten you. Once you go and do it, you realise that the fear of it is far more powerful than actually doing it.
I had a natural aptitude for wanting to be the centre of attention and a definite skill for annoying people.
Kindness and compassion aren't political qualities even though they get politicized.
I don't like big spiders in the house.
Feeling we have to be constantly updated about the lives of our friends and that everything we say has to be out there leads to frustration, anger and jealousy much more than it leads to anything else.
The stuff that I do and enjoy is normally quite similar to a lot of the stuff that psychics and spiritualists would enjoy themselves. I just have a different approach to wanting to find out how things really work, or a sense of, I guess, responsibility about honesty and so on.
If you aim to be controversial for the sake of it you'd end up with a very thin and meaningless show.
The big, fun, ambitious ideas tend to come out of the frustration of talking for too long about the smaller, weaselly ones.
I was part of a very uncool group. It was a group that liked classical music. They were known as the Music School Gang or, less charitably, the Poof Gang.
