Barry Gardiner Quotes

When I was a little kid, my mother and I used to watch the 'Golden Globes' and I would dress up and she would get sparkling apple cider and we would make a tray of hors d'oeuvres and watch it together. And I would get up and make a pretend speech.

When I was a kid, my dad would let me stay up and watch 'Cheers' each week. Granted it's not the most 'kid friendly' show, but I could've cared less. I was getting to stay up past my bedtime!

I still do have the little lunch bag that my mother made out of a towel and embroidered with my name on it for when I went to kindergarten.

When I was a kid I went and saw Bill Cosby with my dad, and I remember sitting there and laughing so hard.

My mum - and my granny and I - would close the curtains, turn on the TV and snuggle up and watch 'Come Dancing.' It was actually my granny who was the biggest fan; she loved the show, and she passed on her passion for it to me. I loved the dancing but also the frocks and the glamour.

'The Secret Garden' was the first musical that I fell in love with when I was a kid. My mom took me to see it, and it was the first one that I owned the soundtrack to and listened to over and over again.

My mom gives me an allowance. She keeps me pretty tight-reined.

I had a really nice childhood; I had great parents. I earned my allowance by washing dishes, and in the summer I earned my allowance by working in daddy's garden.

I have the best memories as a kid eating ice cream. It was a family tradition that I had with my father. It was nice.

When I was about 3, my grandfather used to give me and my sister a nickel to sit out on the front porch with him and sing songs.

'A Christmas Story' has always meant a lot to me personally.

I've taken my boys to the house I grew up in. Taken them to the site of Ebbets Field, where the Dodgers used to play. They go to all the Dodger games, and they play Little League ball. I have infused them with New York spirit.

Christmas was always a big holiday in our family. Every Christmas Eve before we'd go to bed, my mom and dad would read to us two or three stories and they would always be 'The Happy Prince,' 'The Gift of the Magi' and 'Twas the Night Before Christmas,' and I would like to keep that alive.

My dad sat me in front of the TV, and instead of putting on Nick Jr. or something, he put me in front of 'Jailhouse Rock' and all the Elvis movies.

My children are as at home in the Port Elgin library as I used to be, and they've sat in the cinema seats where I sat with their aunt every Saturday afternoon, watching the matinee movies.

I didn't cook that much as a kid. My mother was cooking, and I was her helper. We made dishes together.

I wouldn't trade the childhood we had because, A, It was normal to me, even though, in hindsight, it's not normal. It felt normal, and I think we maintained a pretty normal healthy attitude towards what we did. And B, I just wouldn't trade it, the experience that we had and the growth we've had.

Mum and Dad paid me 50 pence, which was a lot of money when I was 8 years old, not to dye my hair.

I never saw a play with my mother until I was 14, and then it was 'Hansel and Gretel.'

For everyone, 'Star Wars' has been a part of their lives in some capacity. I remember watching it very early on with my cousins and my brother, and we were all cuddled around the VHS player, which sounds very old-fashioned, but that was the way then.

Waffle House is my childhood thing. We used to go there on Sundays or weekends every now and then with my family. It's just good, Southern, home-cooked food, and that's what I love.

I grew up watching 'Gigi.' My grandmother had it, and I watched it there.

When I was a child, my father would read out loud to my brother, my mother, and me. Several times in the course of my childhood, he would read 'Alice and Wonderland' and 'Through the Looking Glass' over a few weeks. They were a great favorite with all of us.

My mom always had me and my brother watching old Fred Astaire movies.

I come from a family of compulsive collectors, and my first memories are really all about collecting. I remember visiting flea markets with my mother or my grandmother - she goes to local ones around Varese, Italy, every Sunday when she's at home.