Born on May 25th

"I cannot control what goes on in another lane and this is how I focus on the Games. There is no point in being nervous of other swimmers. It's just about focusing on yourself and what you need to do in order to perform at your best."

"Throughout my whole swimming career, I've never been disqualified once. I've never been warned once."

"I'm trying to focus on the 100 and 200 breaststroke now. There's no point concentrating on the 50 when it's not in the Olympics. I'm not going to quit the 50 but it's not my priority any more. I'll do it but as part of my bid for gold at the other distances."

"It's unfortunate, I've been the victim of some Australian press."

"I think the mental victory is worth it as much as a gold medal."

"My dream was always to win in the Olympic Games, but I never set that next goal, and I have realised now I need to set another goal."

"Rap culture is interesting and different and has purpose but it has a non-romantic view of life and of social feelings. There may be a void in that."

"It's not just a revue where one song is done, then another. There are concepts and ideas at work."

"Pop songs are not as graceful as they used to be. Performers today haven't gone through the regimen of learning how to write. And of course, everyone wants to own copyrights."

"The talent is always there and art is cyclical. I'm optimistic."

"In writing, I search for believability, simplicity and emotional impact."

"One thing a lyricist must learn is not to fall in love with his own lines. Once you learn that, you can walk away from the lyric and look at it with a reasonable degree of objectivity."

"Above all, I try to create an emotion to which others can respond."

"Tolkien is as good as Dickens at sketching a scene."

"Splendid architecture, the love of your life, an old friend... they can all go drifting by unseen if you're not careful."

"I increasingly see organized religion as actually my enemy. They treat me as their enemy. Not all Christians, of course. Not all Jews, not all Muslims."

"Acting is a very personal process. It has to do with expressing your own personality, and discovering the character you're playing through your own experience - so we're all different."

"Personally, coming out was one of the most important things I've ever done, lifting from my shoulders the millstone of lies that I hadn't even realized I was carrying."

"I've often thought the Bible should have a disclaimer in the front saying, 'This is fiction.'"

"I certainly don't disparage someone whose attitude towards their work is utterly different from mine - that's up to them."

"How do I act so well? What I do is I pretend to be the person I'm portraying in the film or play."

"No actor wants to play to an empty house."

"In the past, kids didn't tell their parents they were gay, so there were never the bust-ups. Some parents react so strongly to the news that their children are gay that the reaction is, 'Get out of our house.' There's a residue of old prejudices that are going to die hard."

"What I particularly like about Broadway is the camaraderie and the friendship of other people in other shows. Everybody knows you're opening and cares about you. There's a real village atmosphere."

"Imagine trying to be a gay actor, a gay anything in modern Russia? Where to be positively oneself, to be affectionate in public with someone you love of the same gender, or to talk of that love in the hearing of anyone under 18, will put you prison?"

"Tony Blair is not a villain, but he's played the part very well."

"There are not many things in my life I can be absolutely proud of or certain I got right, but one of them is that I've got better as an actor. I've learnt how to do it. And I still have enough energy to do it."

"Gandalf the Grey was always the guy I prefer. Gandalf the White was driven to do a particular job, whereas Gandalf the Grey is a bit more humane."

"I learned that coming out was crucial to self-esteem."

"The huge difference in my lifetime is that you can just go up to somebody and make a pass. You couldn't do that in the 1950s if you were gay. There were secret handshakes, a secret language. There was nowhere you could go to be romantic outside of people's houses."