I didn't know folk music growing up, no. It's something I've come to study, really, because I think there's so much to learn from traditional music in the sense of the way music began as a way of communication, the traveling storyteller, the bard, the minstrels.

I come from an art-school background, and I still feel that in my music, it's about exploration and challenging myself, about putting myself in a place that's frightening because I haven't been there before.

I literally left school and went straight into music via art college for a year, and I've been so involved in my job of writing songs that the more actively involved part became channeled into standing on the stage and saying things that way.

I've always felt that I'm affected by the world, by the way we treat each other, by the way different countries treat each other.

The God of the Christians is a father who makes much of his apples, and very little of his children.

It is extremely frustrating if you are in your 20s and you want to embark on having a family and you're struggling to meet people.

When I was young, my family used to go and stay in hotels on the south coast in places like Devon. I loved those holidays because they were with my brothers, who were away at school; I really looked forward to them.

If you look at Governor Romney's family, he's been very successful. He's built a great family, very committed to his wife.