I met someone the other night who's 28 years old, and he hasn't worked a day since he left college because he's pursuing a dream he'll never, ever realize: He thinks he's a great singer. Actually, he's crap.

My proudest achievement has been the success of the shows and artists I have been involved with, because they were made in Britain.

Whether they run a record company or a grocery store, every boss will tell you you're in big trouble if you're borrowing more than you can ever afford to pay back. Delaying the pain for future generations is suicidal. We've got to start getting the deficit down right now, not next year.

I don't think I can do this anymore.

I do a couple of hundred press-ups a day but I haven't been to a gym in years.

The object of this competition is not to be mean to the losers but to find a winner. The process makes you mean because you get frustrated.

I have seen that the American Dream is a reality - and I would love to feel the British Dream is also a reality. To enable that, we have to bring back some common sense and encourage family values, a proper sense of justice and make people believe they have a decent chance to build a business or career for themselves. I see this moment as a fantastic opportunity to restore this, because I believe Britain Has Talent.

You are a saucy little thing aren't you?

I have always hated celebrities lecturing people on politics. So forgive me. But I am passionate about this country. I am equally passionate about the potential of the people who live here.

We have hated the French for years. Now you have just joined the club. It makes you much more likable.

I think that by ignoring the show you're ignoring the audience who put you there.

Not everybody is perfect, and I don't think we should be looking for perfect people.

The end of the animal trade would leave more time to trap or beat to death pop star wannabes.

I met someone the other night who's 28 years old, and he hasn't worked a day since he left college because he's pursuing a dream he'll never, ever realize: He thinks he's a great singer. Actually, he's crap.

If we had to choose one American Idol to go out to dinner with, it would be Fantasia. There are no airs and graces about her... I like her.

I think you have to judge everything based on your personal taste. And if that means being critical, so be it. I hate political correctness. I absolutely loathe it.

If you've got a big mouth and you're controversial, you're going to get attention.

If I said to most of the people who auditioned, 'Good job, awesome, well done,' it would have made me actually look and feel ridiculous. It's quite obvious most of the people who turned up for this audition were hopeless.

When I was young and we got caught pinching apples, we got a smack from the local policeman. Today if that happened he would be sued. There is a tendency to punish the victim, not the criminal. If someone broke into my house or my mum's house, I worry that the burglar has more rights than me.

My attitude is, if someone's going to criticize me, tell me to my face.

Shave off your beard and wear a dress. You would be a great female impersonator.

If your lifeguard duties were as good as your singing, a lot of people would be drowning.

Anything I shouldn't laugh at makes me laugh. I mean, I'm bad at that, when somebody is singing something terribly and I'm thinking to myself, 'If I laugh now, this is the absolute worst thing I could ever do,' and then I start laughing and I can't stop.

As an actor, I really like Philip Seymour Hoffman. I think he's a genius.

At 20, you're cocky and you think you can rule the world, and you get it all wrong.

Britain's got talent, enormous talent; that's very obvious.

Choosing how you vote should not be a snap verdict based on a few minutes of television.

Every show I've ever, you know, produced, essentially it's the show I want to watch myself.

Every time I sat in a chemistry lesson, I thought, 'What am I doing this for? I don't ever want to be in a job that involves a Bunsen burner.'

Everyone who turns up on 'X Factor' does it because a door has been closed to them at some time in their lives, and this is the only shot they have got.

For the music business, social networking is brilliant. Just when you think it's doom and gloom and you have to spend millions of pounds on marketing and this and that, you have this amazing thing now called fan power. The whole world is linked through a laptop. It's amazing. And it's free. I love it. It's absolutely brilliant.

Have I got a black book? Yes, it's called a mobile phone. I do get offers. There is no shortage of people if you want to go on dates - working in TV, living in L.A., it is there if you want it.

Holding auditions in front of an audience is testing.

I am quite miserable because I'm never satisfied with what I've got. You're always looking for that next high, and that is what I would define as happiness.

I break up very well. I am a good breaker-upper.

I can't admit things; that's why I can't go to funerals and stuff like that. I find it very, very difficult to deal with that kind of reality. I shut myself off totally because it affects me so badly.

I could just sit back and get someone to spin my achievements, I suppose, but when I see others do it, I always think, 'Why are you telling me how successful you are?' I am always suspicious of those kinds of boasts.

I couldn't think of anything worse than being in an unhappy marriage. It worries me because I've seen it destroy people.

I didn't have any qualifications when I left school - I had three O-levels.

I don't have sophisticated tastes. I have average tastes. If you looked in my collection of DVDs, you'd see 'Jaws' and 'Star Wars.' In the book library, you'd see John Grisham and Sidney Sheldon. And if you look in my fridge, it's, like, children's food - chips, milkshakes, yogurt.

I don't like kids that are pushed into things by stage mums, but when I can see they are having a good time, they're excited and enjoying the process, then I think it's wrong to discriminate.

I don't mind being cast as some kind of a pantomime baddie, but I am very fair in business. I always have been. I pride myself on being fair.

I don't want to tell a 15 or 14 year old what they should be doing. I want them to tell me. And that's what I got when I met Justin Bieber for the first time.

I get very anti-social, depressed and irritable with people. I don't have time for them. I can't make phone calls and stuff. I just sit on my own for days.

I got good advice once. Someone said to me: 'Live in your money rather than look at it.'

I grew up when the whole Motown thing was huge. The charts in those days were dominated by groups more than solo artists at one point.

I hate belongings. I hate clutter. It really bothers me because I can't think properly. If you've got distractions in front of you, your mind goes nuts.

I hated school, but I love work.

I have always hated celebrities lecturing people on politics.