Lesley Nicol Quotes

I don’t do freeways.

One of the Sunday newspapers asked me to make my favorite dish, and they photographed me holding it in the kitchen. It was roasted salmon with roasted vegetables. That’s not cooking; that’s putting things in a pan. It looked quite nice, but I’m not saying it was good.

For years, I’ve felt that there’s an inner cook in me just waiting to be unleashed. But I have to confess I’m having an awful lot of trouble finding her in real life.

Coming eyeball to eyeball with a hummingbird on my terrace is as exciting to me as any celebrity I’ve met as a result of ‘Downton Abbey.’

For many years, I picked the wrong men, or they picked me. I think if you don’t feel attractive or worth something as a woman, you attract men who don’t really look after you. That’s what happened to me, but I realise that those relationships were like a journey, helping me to learn something about myself.

People are always asking me for my favorite recipe, and I have to say, ‘I don’t really have one.’

As an actor, you never know where the work‘s going to come, so you have to be flexible about it.

I’m very lucky to have a husband who cooks, for a start. It’s a good partnership. I met him through a friend, and we just hit it off.

I can do basics, but I’m not a proper cook. I can do a roast. I can stick a chicken in the oven with vegetables.

I’ve not cooked Christmas dinner since 1982.

I took a cookery course. On the examination, I had to cook a cheese omelet with peas and an egg custard. With the egg custard, which was supposed to be a dessert, I forget to put the sugar in, so that’s more of a quiche, isn’t it?

People I’ve never spoken to before come up to me and give me a hug.

I think I should be a nightclub singer. I love to sing!

The first meal my husband ever made me was a chicken curry. I have never tasted anything so delicious in my life.

I want to have a scene with Maggie Smith.

I did an O-level in domestic science when I was at school, but on the day of the practical exam, it was a cookery nightmare.

At the drop of a hat, people will say there are no roles for women after 40. It’s there with a bunch of other rules I’m not interested in.

I go dog-walking a lot.

‘Sweeney Todd’ is my favorite Sondheim musical.

Visiting a show that’s already established can be a bit daunting, as they’ve been a family already, and you’re the newbie.

I get invited to a lot more glamorous parties since I’ve been in ‘Downton Abbey,’ which has made me much more fashion conscious.

When I heard I had gotten ‘Downton Abbey,’ I remember I was standing on a freezing cold street in Manchester where we were shooting the Manchester part of ‘West is West.’

I have been invited to do something called ‘Celebrity MasterChef‘ in England, which, of course, I can’t do. It’s complete nonsense. You have to be a decent cook to begin with. I’d be the joke one.

I mean, I’ve done musicals, but it’s not my best thing.

I wish I could play the piano. I started when I was four and finished when I was five. I got bored. I couldn’t tell my left hand from my right back then!

My poor cooking is legendary among my friends.

The first time I ever got up on a stage, I did a comedy poem. I don’t know how I got there in the first place because I was very, very shy.

Since I’ve turned 50, I’ve had the best roles of my life, and I’ve got married. Everyone said that wasn’t possible because there are no men, but I’ve done it. I think it’s just going to get better.

I believe anything can happen.

I inherited my weight problem from my mum. She was always on diets. If there was a box of chocolates in the house, she‘d eat half a chocolate, then put the other half back. She loved me, but she did encourage me to diet in my teens.