I want to have a scene with Maggie Smith.

I never imagined I'd go into acting, but I always loved drama, and when I was 16, I discovered the Library Theatre up the road. So I plucked up courage and asked if I could watch rehearsals. It was like Heaven.

People have preconceptions about women of a certain age.

I've been to the White House and had Hilary Clinton push through the crowd to come and meet me. Chelsea Clinton, too.

One of the Sunday newspapers asked me to make my favorite dish, and they photographed me holding it in the kitchen. It was roasted salmon with roasted vegetables. That's not cooking; that's putting things in a pan. It looked quite nice, but I'm not saying it was good.

The first meal my husband ever made me was a chicken curry. I have never tasted anything so delicious in my life.