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Securing the equality of women and men, in law and in fact, is the great political project of the 20th century - Boutros Boutros- Ghali, Secretary-General of the United Nations

It was like acting with the Rock of Gibraltar - Billie Whitelaw on working with Sir Laurence Olivier

I think we are now culpable in the light of history in that we didn't spend enough money on leakage reduction as a means of securing supply - Sir Gordon Jones, chairman of Yorkshire Water

I took my pliers with me in case John Major's teeth wanted looking after - Mad Frankie Fraser, former gangster, once known as The Dentist, on his visit to the Palace of Westminster

It makes my boil when you see how worn-out and decrepit some MPs are - and it's even worse in the Lords - Gladys Hale, former security officer at the House of Commons, claiming she was a victim of ageism when she was sacked, aged 62

I would be sitting down with merchant bankers and industrialists who were earning 10 times my salary. They would be hanging on my every word and I would be sitting there paid about the same as a deputy cook at the House of Commons - Robert Atkins, bemoaning the lot of a junior minister