Quotes

I was never a big fan of many of the pop stars, preferring Frank Sinatra, Matt Monro and Petula Clark. I was the first person to play Elvis Presley and Bill Haley and his Comets. I've never been an Elvis fan. I can see how wonderful he is, but he was never my sort of singer.

We were doing the show live, and the noise beforehand was unbelievable. So I simply addressed the audience before the boys came on, and said, "Look, we'd all much rather hear what The Beatles have to say rather than a lot of screaming". And you know what? They were perfectly behaved. [on hosting Juke Box Jury with The Beatles as the panel in 1963]

Jon [Jon Pertwee] was one of the funniest men that Britain has ever produced, one of the greatest character actors, he was marginally eccentric, he lived his life to the full. Jon had been working so desperately hard over the last year, I have never known a man of his age to have such stamina - he had been all over the country doing his one-man show. I loved him as a friend, he was my dear old mate, I have so many memories.