Giles Coren
As a broadly left-wing, environmentally aware urban believer in anthropogenic global warming, I am all for a total ban on motor vehicles.
As drivers desert the city I find myself clinging more and more to my father's belief that a man without a car is not really a man.
My dad Alan loved Westerns and we watched them together when there wasn't much else on TV. I had toy cowboys I'd call Richard Widmark or Gregory Peck and we'd restage the Battle of the Alamo.
Have you ever been to the countryside? It's so small. And there's nothing to do.
I don't think I have ever learnt a difficult lesson. Probably sports betting, which I have lost money on. I did lose money on Apple. You'd have thought you could only make money on Apple but I was one of the people who managed to lose.Collection: Sports
In terms of column writing, with the exception of one or two others, I am probably paid as well as you can be as a journalist. I attribute some of this success to my ability to haggle. The main thing in this game is to ask for money and when they tell you the amount you say, "no, I want more".Collection: Writing
Ask a footballer what they can cook and they always say spaghetti. It is what you reach for when there is nothing else left in the larder. It's poor people's food and it's unsophisticated. It's the same as bread - you just boil it instead of putting it in the oven.Collection: People
I am afraid that I am actually naturally good with money. My wife thinks it is because I am a Jew, which is both slightly anti-Semitic and also correct. Frankly, all my "goysha" - gentile - friends haven't got a clue.Collection: Thinking
My dad was undeniably famous when I was a kid - he was on Wogan and Clive James and the radio every week, but as far as I was concerned he wasn't famous enough. My best friend was Ben Brooke-Taylor. His dad Tim was in The Goodies - that was famous.Collection: Dad