NASA space scientists have been studying giraffe skin so they can apply what they learn from it to the construction of spacesuits.

I'm a vegetarian, and I long for people to eat less meat, but the thing to do is not to go, 'Eat! Less! Meat!' It's to say, 'I am fit as a flea and I'm 63, I haven't eaten meat for 40 years, and I never get diseases, I'm never ill, and I'm full of energy. So how's about that?'

I can't cut out a piece of cloth and make a lovely dress, but I can mend tears in shirts and sew on buttons.

Greece has got something like 1,400 islands. There is so much of Greece you can't know even if you're Greek. It's sprinkled out all around the edge of the Aegean, all over the place. It's already a secret place wherever you go, even if it's somewhere huge like Athens or Corinth. The place enchanted me.

I haven't got a very sweet tooth, but I love salted things like nuts. I would have to be dragged in by a lorry if I ate as many salted peanuts as I would like to.

You only have one go at life, which is thrilling. Only you can make yourself into who you want to be. Don't blame anybody else. You are entitled to free fresh air, and that's it. Do the rest yourself.

So-called designer bags are useless, and most are also ugly, faddish and overpriced. Pared down and sleek is always best.

The clothes were a huge part of what made 'Dynasty' fun.

I blame my grandmother for encouraging me to become an actress.

If you eat junk, you look like junk. People say, 'It's not my fault, it's my glands.' It's not; it's greed!

Jennifer Aniston is cute, but I wouldn't call her beautiful. I think that is why Cheryl Cole is so popular, because she is just so pretty and the public are starved of gorgeous people. When I was young, everybody on screen was gorgeous.

There's something about the air and the sky and the atmosphere in the South of France that must be very conducive to work, to being creative, because I have written several of my books there. I find it so much easier because you're cut off. If you don't want to speak to anybody, basically they don't know where you are. And it's so beautiful.

My mother use to call me 'Miss Perpetual Motion' because I rarely keep still.

I don't use e-mail; I phone and fax. I think people who are hunched over their computer screens all day should get a life.

I've become totally hooked on Cellex-C. It's an anti-ageing serum and is fantastic. I use it morning and evening and even on my hands, where it has faded those dark spots.

I was voted the most beautiful girl in the world in 1958, and courted by every young, available man in Los Angeles, most of whom I didn't go out with, by the way.

What is so weird is that young people who want to be 'celebrities' do not want to put in the hard work. They don't want to do the training, go to drama school, read Shakespeare, try different accents and study technique. They just want to be famous. It is not just in England; it's the same in America and all over Europe.

If I hear the word 'retire,' it makes me want to throw up. And then do what? Sit around all day watching television?

It is unseemly to undress on stage. I won't do that.

My parents instilled in me that life was going to be very difficult and that I'd have to work for everything.

When I was at school, I was terrible at algebra and arithmetic, but I was always the best at English and literature. And acting, of course.

I think it is shocking that 15- and 16-year-olds leave school unable to add up and with the reading ability of a four-year-old.

I've three children, three grandchildren, I work, I travel, and I'm very happily married. I'm very satisfied and happy with my life and there really isn't anything I want.

I think you always have to use certain parts of yourself in any role.