In school, I always sang in choirs. In fact, I used to do a lot of musicals in the youth theatre that I was a member of between the ages of 16 and 18.

I applied to drama school when I was about 18 and didn't have any luck anywhere. They basically turned me away and said I had a bit of growing up to do. I went back to Aberystwyth and did my growing up by spending eight months working in Peacocks.

If there's one thing I've learnt, it's that I don't think a man ever looks better than when he's in a suit. So I'm wearing them increasingly, not in my personal life, but in my professional life, and I'm really enjoying it.

I think a British icon is someone who conducts themself with real dignity: someone who is truly talented and modest. These are things that I would aspire to in my career.

It's so important to keep a marriage alive with small treats and doing little things for each other. Just remembering to say nice things and to have listening time is vital. That ghastly phrase 'quality time' means taking three minutes to sit down and be still with someone rather than yelling over your shoulder as you rush out.

I myself am Catholic, and many Catholics have values that are a priority for Republicans, especially as they relate to marriage and life.

Love is moral even without legal marriage, but marriage is immoral without love.

It had never occurred to me to write a historical novel, but then I found Hadley in the pages of Hemingway's 'A Moveable Feast' and wanted to know more about her - who she was, how she and Ernest met and fell in love, what it was like for her to be married to such a demanding and stormy force of nature.