Michael Portillo Quotes

I have copies of the books my grandfather illustrated for Scribner's in each house. I read those books all the time.

I was a Sheffield United fan from when my grandad, who's sadly passed away now, got a season ticket for me when I was four.

For one year, I was Keith Mitchell Coogan on my headshots. The next year, I was just Keith Coogan. And I have gone by that ever since, maybe 1984 or 1985. That is my mother's maiden name, and it was out of reverence for my grandfather.

I lived near Arthur's Seat when I lived in Edinburgh. It was the perfect playground as a child. I always have a wee run up there when I'm back.

There's a lot of your family in tonight.

I remembered that my grandfather had spent his teenage years in Shanghai and that he went back after he finished medical school to work there in a hospital. So I went back into my family archives and was able to find out his exact address; it was a street that was in the French Concession.

If I ever have a son, I would call him Frankie, and it's a family name - it's my dad and my dad's dad, so you know, it sticks. I won't forget it.

My father's mother was from Liverpool and she had this very beautiful English china. I only wanted to drink my cocoa out of my grandmother's cup and saucer.

My son Barry, of course, has been on from the beginning. And his son Shane is playing now a med student regularly on the show. And at one point or another, I've had all four of his kids on the show.

My family and relatives alone could fill Shanmukhananda Hall in Bombay.

I have a very strong family.

My father was very interested in music, and when he and his brothers were young, they had a singing group that used to open for Sam Cooke. There was always music in our house, but there wasn't much art around.

I've always loved Spanish. I love my father's Spanish records.

I have my real name and RJ. I've gone by RJ since I was eight, but I was named Roy after my grandfather. They called me Little Roy, which sounded like Leroy with a Texas accent, but my mom didn't want to have a Leroy as a son, so it went to RJ.

My grandfather was a politician and lived in Washington, D.C., so as a kid, I used to go to D.C. every other weekend.

I got a motorbike at three; we've still got it. It was an R50. Hopefully my little nephews will play on it.

I was in Madrid as a young girl and a teenager. I'll never forget when I went to the Prado Museum for the first time and saw the paintings of Goya. They had such a big impact on me.

When we go back to Samoa, where my mother was born, we always check out the art by local artists.

Bihar has always drawn me, ever since I was a child, brought up on the stories about my grandfather Babasaheb Soman.

After music, trees are my passion. My great-grandfather was a forester, so maybe it is genetic. My father would take me for walks in the forest and sometimes I would play truant with him. 'You won't learn anything in a communist school, my boy,' he would say. He loved trees too.

I'm actually named Matthew William Kearney: my middle name is named after my grandfather.

For me, summer holidays, vacations, New Year, and any trip away from Bengaluru meant going to Goa. My mother is from there.

Jaipur is my mother's hometown. So, every summer vacation, we would come to Jaipur and spend the entire holiday at my nani's house.

There's a thing about film composing and conducting in my family.

I grew up a huge wrestling fan. My grandfather, who was a minister and retired when I was a young kid in Sweetwater, Texas, lived right near us. He was a big wrestling fan.