What does Disney mean to you?

John Peel, disc jockey

"I remember seeing Bambi and being horrified when its mother dies. Disney is part of our lives but this buy-out frightens me, we are going to have one company running everything. There are fewer companies and only the fiercest survive."

Tony Juniper, chief executive, Friends of the Earth

"Some of Disney's ideas [demonstrate] that it has, as a company, either questionable values or no values at all. And the idea of it being an even bigger conglomerate is not a positive thought for me."

David Bellamy, television wildlife expert

"A world without Disney would be like a world without flowers. Unimaginable.Disney still makes dreams come true. Long live Mickey Mouse. My favourites are Dopey, Bambi, Tinkerbell and Mickey as the Sorcerer's Apprentice in Fantasia."

Julie Burchill, social commentator

"Disney is neither good nor evil but I will never forgive them for putting American voices in Winnie the Pooh. I find the Disney characters irritating. They don't compare to modern cartoons [like] The Simpsons. They just make silly noises."

Joan Bakewell, broadcaster

"The first film I saw was Snow White. It is a great, classic film [which] looked beautiful on screen. More recently, Disney films have not had the same visual impact. Disney seems to have become a bit predictable and visually banal."

Will Self, author

"Walt Disney's original vision was quite ambiguous. On the one hand, he was a quasi-fascist with a strange view of humanity. On the other, there is some good children's entertainment. I would say [Disney] was a force for evil, particularly in itsbanalisation of childhood."

Jilly Cooper, author

"Films like Bambi and Snow White were so much part of my childhood. I am now a grandmother and my grandchildren seem to adore them still. I don't disapprove of the company as a concept because it seems to have generated more pleasure for children than hamburgers and cola. The characters have given millions of people a lot of joy and I hope they remain unchanged in the future."

Tony Benn, politician

"Disney's company is now larger than some national states and the bigger a company becomes, the more influence and less accountability it has. I do not want any aspect of the media to be owned by private proprietors and I do not want to see it in fewer hands. The control of more and more creative people by fewer and fewer owners has many implications on the democratic process."

Preethi Nair, novelist

"Disney was in the background of my childhood but I probably liked Tom & Jerry better. I was not an avid Disney fan but it was something I watched, alongside things like The Magic Roundabout. I don't think Disney had any significant impact on me as a child. If my nephew watches a Disney movie now, he wants the merchandise, which is probably not a good thing."