Quotes of the Week

"I think I had better say, no comment. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear."

Patrick Moore,

astronomer (above)

on being asked whether the eclipse should be watched only on telvevision

"She is all woman. I was dumbfounded when I heard. It is just incredible."

Carl Jager, husband of veteran athlete Kathy Jager, who was forced to undergo a medical test to prove she was female

"Depriving us of five miles of beach just because Tony Blair is arriving is an obscenity, a disgrace."

Marcella Giuliani, Italian holidaymaker, protesting about the five-mile exclusion zone being set up around the Blairs' Tuscan holiday villa

"The answer, if you ask me, is that the Queen Mum has a reputation for liking her drop of gin. Everyone loves a granny, but a granny on the razzle is irresistible."

Keith Waterhouse, on the Queen Mother's popularity