Rory Bremner Quotes

I love the 6 Nations rugby. I feel very Scottish then. I feel very Scottish now, sitting in the middle of Chelsea. But that’s part of our heritage – being part of Britain, part of Europe. I love being European.

I am proud of Edinburgh‘s status as a financial centre, but where is it on the index of global financial centres? Sixty-fourth. Below Hamilton, Casablanca and Mauritius. London, by contrast, is second only to New York. That’s a link worth keeping.

So to recap: we may or may not be going to war with Iraq because Saddam may or may not have weapons of mass destruction, which he may or may not use, or pass to other terrorists groups with whom he may or may not have links.

One of my greatest sadnesses at the prospective break-up of the Union is that it will set English, Welsh and Northern Irish against Scots in a bitter division of the debts and resources of the whole of the U.K.

It frustrates me when my mind wanders and when I end up reading the same words again and again.

Location is everything, I’d rather camp in the Lake District or Scotland than sit in a five-star hotel in Frankfurt.

What’s fascinating about doing comedy about the referendum is, because it is the first time, it is the most extraordinary atmosphere. You find that if you are making jokes about politicians, it becomes intensely political.

I have never been good at doing impressions of women. Which is understandable. There’s a gender issue.

Politics now is rather like going into Starbucks for a coffee.

I have late onset ADHD. I take on too much and end up spinning plates, but it’s entertaining, and it helps you make quick connections if you’re a comedian, if you have a brain that can dance around too much.

Politics in Scotland is far too important to be taken seriously.

We are rather in the position that used to exist at the BBC, where you feel that you can pick up the phone to people who are experts in their field and they will be very favourably disposed to you and share their knowledge.

I don’t have olive skin. Nobody could tell from my skin that I’m Mediterranean. I’m quite fair, and I do burn easily.

Anyone who wants to promote a car or a football tournament turns to opera. There’s a much greater public connection than the image of plush corporate boxes would suggest.

Most Scots might be able to identify six vegetables – but only two MSPs. There are parts of Scotland where you rarely get more than 40% turnout at the polls. There’s a big disconnect there, and I think comedians bridge that gap.

I am just fascinated by this reassurance from a menacing figure. It is rather frightening.

Like millions of Scots, I’ve agonised over whether to go for independence or remain with the Union.

People may say that what I do is very clever, but it’s not really at all. It’s not Swift.

Or the Department of Education and another ministry were worried about duplication of effort, so what did they do? They set up two committees to look into duplication and neither knew what the other was up to. It really is a world beyond parody.

I think I probably tend to make life hard for myself by taking on too many things. I call it plate spinning.

When I first met Tony Blair in 1996, he was open and idealistic, keen to bring a breath of fresh air to government. But something happened – was it just the arrogance of power? – that narrowed Labour‘s vision from purposeful reform and investment, to peevish and petulant pragmatism.

When I think back to my childhood, it’s with a mixture of amusement and embarrassment. I was always forgetting things. My mum called me scatty because I could never sit still. But there was no sense I was suffering from a medical condition as such.

When I was growing up, there were just the three channels, so as a nation we all sat down to the same meal at the end of the day. Now there’s been this explosion.

I remember driving home one evening while they were reviewing the papers on the radio. One of the articles was about me separating from my wife. It’s a weird thing to listen to a news report about the break-up of your marriage.

I like the idea of people coming to opera for the first time and finding it an enjoyable experience. I don’t like the fact that opera is seen as elitist and all black ties and that stuff.