"When I was three, I wanted to be four. When I was four, I wanted to be prime minister." — Jeffrey Archer

Very few people deserted me when I went to prison. They stayed loyal.

What I have found is that real friends stand by you.

When I was deputy chairman I could travel from Glasgow to Edinburgh without leaving Tory land. In a two-week period I covered every constituency in which we had an MP. There were 14. Now we have only one. We appear to have given up.

The discipline required for athletics carried through to writing. You call it obsession. I call it discipline. By the way, I see nothing wrong with that.