OVERHEARD

It's indicative of everything that's wrong with the British attitude towards sex. I despair.

Philip Kerr, author, on winning the Literary Review's Bad Sex Prize, London Evening Standard

His tremulous thumbs gathered the elastic waist of her panties and plucked them down over the twin golden domes of her behind and back over the suspended sentences and Sobranie filter-tips of her stocking tops as, obligingly, she brought her knees up to her chest. She straightened her feet and the little stealth bomber of black lace and silk was his.

The winning passage, from Philip Kerr's Gridiron (Chatto & Windus), the film rights for which were reportedly sold to Hollywood for $1m

Auberon Waugh, editor of the Literary Review, on what led the jury to choose Kerr, Standard

Meryl Streep for Bridges of Madison County.

Michelle Pfeiffer, film star, makes her Oscar prediction, Sunday Times

I think I was the first not to think in terms of punchlines or even jokes.

Spike Milligan, comic genius, Observer

The asshole of soaps.

Spike Milligan, on Coronation Street, ibid.

I'm the sort of person to whom things never happen, sometimes spectacularly so.

Michael Holroyd, biographer, on why he chose to write about other people's lives, speaking at the Book Now! festival

What a woman! She was just a publican's wife, but her suffering had an epic quality. She was playing Camille in the back of that pub.

Anita Dobson, actress, looks back on Angie, the character she played in EastEnders, Times

Britpop as an idea is no longer valid.

Damon Albarn, singer with Blur, Big Issue