Overheard

We didn't believe them when they were down and we're not going to believe them when they are up.

Terry Wogan, accepting a Sony Award, on Radio 2's listening figures

Socialism is finished. That's why I got into Buddhism . . . In fact I thought that, being a little orphan of Marx, here at last was another space where I could feel comfortable.

Bernardo Bertolucci, director of Little Buddha, Observer

I hope she doesn't make it in Hollywood. I don't mean that maliciously, but I think that would spoil her.

Jane Horrocks, actress, on

Emma Thompson, Time Out

There's a big trend in Hollywood of taking very good European films and turning them into very bad American films. It's really a perverse activity. I'd rather go on the dole.

Roddy Doyle, novelist and

screenwriter, Independent

Do you think you could describe me without using the four-letter N-word?

Michael Palin, Sunday Telegraph

They've had a string of successes, and you have to respect that. But God knows, with their sort of personal manner, how it comes about.

James Ivory, director, on

Bob and Harvey Weinstein,

the brothers who run Miramax

Films, New York Times