LEN GOODMAN

I come from a broken home. My parents split up when I was nine. Everyone gave me a good wallop. But I come from a time when you just put up with that, you got on with things rather than sitting moaning about them.

I won't eat anything I can't spell or wouldn't tread in.

I've got a great life. It's a shame the work gets in the way of the golf, really.

I really hate airport queues. I almost feel they should have cattle prods to hurry us up down the aisles. You can't even complain because they might stop you getting on to the flight.

I am good in bed - I don't snore. I don't take the duvet. I just lay there and go straight off to sleep. That's all you want out of a bloke.

Life is precious and relationships are precious. I'm a great believer in family.

I can't do most things, if I'm honest, but cooking I definitely can't do.

The thing with children is they're a bit like baking a fruitcake: you throw all the ingredients in but you never know how they're going to turn out.

There are no gentlemen in anything competitive - you want to win.

The trouble when you die is that everyone says you were nice. I would like to be thought of as genuinely nice. I would like there to be people who can honestly say, 'Len! Oh yeah, there was more good than bad in him.'

I get so annoyed at people not looking after their parents. The deal is when we are growing up they look after us and as they grow older we look after them. That's the deal.

I haven't danced since 1973; I'm too old.

I am a little bit of a softie, yes. Actually I don't think it's softness, I think it's kindness.

You have to speak your mind, but without being cruel.

I'm a technophobe. I can't crack the iPhone, and the extent of my multitasking is being able to talk while I make a drink.

I'm passionate about old people because I am one myself.

On the dance floor, as much as you say, 'Ladies, you are the car. He is the driver. You can only go where he takes you,' they still try to be in control.

As you get older, things conk out. It's a bit like a car. As long as it's something the mechanics can fix, you can chug on for a few more thousand miles.

Children give life a reason to be - they make life.

The truth is, I've been lucky. But just like the waltz, life has its own rhythm of rise and fall.

I always think of a show like a plant - a little pruning now and then keeps it healthy, but you shouldn't pull it out and chop the roots up.

I always tell the adults at my dance school, 'Men, you are going to have to do something that you are absolutely not used to: you have got to take command and be the boss.' Because - and this is just an observation - women get their way.

Obviously you can't please everyone. I'm sure some people say, 'Bloody old Len Goodman gets on my nerves.'

I've never really been very good at marriage. It's one of my failures. I've tried my best, but I do realise the common denominator is me; it's something I'm doing.

You got to risk it if you want the biscuit.