We would not have been a successful family without my father and stepfather, who were working-class men with better dreams for their children. We just wore them out.

The abolitionists were not like the rugged people out West, and they were not like John Brown, either. They were people who made speeches and did politics.

The children created pop art portraits of themselves by tracing over a digital picture on the computer. It certainly added something extra. At the end of the class, they couldn't believe that it was already playtime.

Father or stepfather - those are just titles to me. They don't mean anything.

I was brought up by the English side of my family, who are very repressed and working class. Absolutely lovely, but very English.

If you asked anybody in my family, they would have very stridently proclaimed themselves middle class. My mother and father were separated, so he doesn't count.