I love to see a wood full of bluebells. Growing up in the Kent countryside, I have special memories of this brief annual spectacle.

I got a job as an assistant film editor, which lasted for a few years, but I found writing incredibly difficult, and I thought, 'How am I going to make a film if I can't write?' I didn't really comprehend that someone else would do that bit.

I lived on nothing for years - squatted where I lived and where I worked, stole electricity, made things from stuff I found in skips, used paper that had been discarded - you do everything you can do to keep going and not have to get a job.

It's not part of my ambition to become fabulously rich. My plan was always to make my pictures, and hopefully people would buy them, and then I'd buy a studio, buy a house, help friends out, do bits and bobs - but I've no idea after that.

When we talk about novels, we don't often talk about imagination. Why not? Does it seem too first grade? In reviews, you read about limpid prose, about the faithful reproduction of consciousness, about moral heft, but rarely about the power of pure, unadulterated imagination.

The multiculturalism of Britain is one of our greatest strengths in music, literature, and visual art, but the TV and film industry doesn't tap into the multicultural talent pool in the U.K. as much as they do in the U.S.

I have truly been inspired by the struggle and triumphs of so many women that dare to break new ground in all aspects of society, and those who have pushed the boundaries of human imagination.

My all time favourite films - one is 'Mary Poppins,' and the other one is 'Pakeezah.' 'Pakeezah' was an Indian film. The beauty of 'Pakeezah' was that it had a soundtrack which was pure poetry.