people-from-sheffield

"I myself never even dreamed of being a business woman … I took over because I had to."

"But as he also points out, time teaches you that fame is relative. In 1983, [[w:Robert Lindsay|[Robert] Lindsay]] starred as Edmund in a Granada TV version of King Lear. "Larry Olivier, who was very poorly at the time, was Lear." he says. "And there we were in makeup. At Granada, there was this huge makeup trailer. At one end there was Larry in his crown, and sitting down the other end was Doris Speed, who played Annie Walker in Coronation Street." At a certain moment, Olivier rose from his seat – in Lindsay’s memory, it was a throne – and made his way slowly down to Speed. The trailer was silent. Everyone was agog. "He stood behind her, and he leaned into her mirror," says Lindsay. "And then he said [cue a pitch-perfect impression of Olivier]: 'My darling, on behalf of the theatrical profession, I'd like to congratulate you on a performance that has given such heart to the nation. It's real, it's humorous, and we love you so much. Congratulations, my darling, and thank you." Olivier then made his way back to his own seat, at which point Doris Speed looked up at her makeup artist and said: 'Who’s that?'""

"I feel quite private about the fact that I have cancer. As a friend put it, while lavish presents are most welcome, I don’t want to be squirted all over with pity. But the trouble is that I’m a writer: like Nora Ephron (I wish), for me (almost) everything is copy. I will keep outing myself, and making inappropriate jokes."

"One of these stores is in Sheffield, where I grew up and where half my family still lives. It began its life in 1847 as a silk mercer whose proprietors were some brothers called Cole – the site of the original shop is still known as Coles Corner, a spot immortalised in the song by Richard Hawley – and thanks to this long history, people in the city are heartbroken at its imminent disappearance. (They are furious, too: it’s only six months since the council spent £3.4m buying its current building, the better that it might make its lease more affordable to John Lewis, which Coles became in 2002.) "Bad news," wrote my brother on WhatsApp after the closure was announced, a cue for us to remember its toy department, where as children we hankered after Lego, and its cafe, where we lived in hope of a vanilla slice (the cake stand rotated decorously, your hovering hand italicising your greed). On Twitter, the old photographs came thick and fast. My favourite, posted by the editor of the Sheffield Star, Nancy Fielder, was of the crowds at the opening of the store’s new building in Barker's Pool in 1963, the men in ties and flat caps, the women in cat's eye spectacles and mushroom-shaped hats."

"And who can blame them? After more than 370 pages, I began to feel half mad myself. At times, the world Barnes describes, with its genitalia fashioned from colons and its fierce culture of omertà, feels like some dystopian novel. But it isn’t, of course. It really happened, and she has worked bravely and unstintingly to expose it. This is what journalism is for."

"In its sights are those people who, even as they loudly proclaim their righteous politics, are apt to label older women as Karens and Terfs; who either roundly ignore or demonise the views of such women, however well-founded or based in experience; who write with open loathing of their bodies, their haircuts and their clothes; who struggle to acknowledge that they have benefited even the smallest bit from the legacy of those who went before them; who would, in effect, like women over the age of 45 either to shut up or to disappear altogether. It is, to be clear, a very good book, one that brilliantly and unrelentingly exposes all the weasel ways in which ageist misogyny enables regressive beliefs to be recast as progressive. In my eyes, it’s a future classic, up there with Joan Smith's Misogynies and Susan Faludi's Backlash. But it's also, I’m afraid, very painful to read. Like many women of my age and background, I feel myself to be approaching my zenith. How agonising to be reminded that, in some senses, this counts for nothing at all."

"[On Russell Brand and the allegations of sexual abuse made against him] And beyond this, the enabling. It seems clear that senior TV executives and many others knew of his reputation – you only had to have ears to know: his harassment of a BBC newsreader was broadcast live on air – and yet, no one ever stopped him. He had multiple chances. People – men, mostly – ask how this can be happening again. Operation YewTree, #MeToo: why isn't it time up, they ask? I share the weariness, though really, they've no idea: like most women, I've had decades of sexual harassment, of being talked over, and belittled, and patronised. But there's so much hypocrisy in play here; the same men won't listen – not properly – to women's concerns about their safety. Male indignation on this is extremely selective, and extremely limited. Dispatches found only one male comedian to talk about Brand and the way women on the comedy circuit have long warned each other about him: Daniel Sloss. (A hero to me now – and shame on any others who were approached and declined to speak.)"

"How many more dramas like this will be made? Why don't film-makers write fiction any more? What is wrong with our culture that stories about abused women are served up, like so much supper on a tea tray, week after week, month after month?"

"Historically, working-class women and women of color have been excluded from intellectual work. This exclusion must be challenged. Working-class women, women of color, and other historically silenced women must be enabled to participate as subjects as well as objects in feminist theorizing."

"Brexit was a chilling example of how truly intolerant and despicable the left in this country are. I know people whose own parents almost disowned them because they voted leave. I have probably received in the region of 300 death threats – mainly from Muslims who want to prove Islam is a “religion of peace” by killing me, as well as Black Lives Matter supporters. I now really enjoy the death threats because I post them all on social media and they allow me to illustrate how we are stupidly shaping society to cater for the most aggressive, hateful, bigots imaginable. The left denounces people like me as bigots for standing up for true liberal principles which made Western civilisation great in the first place."

"Why do my YouTube videos get millions of views even though it’s just some ranty Northerner sat in front of a world map behind a webcam? It’s because people are desperately searching for an alternative. They instinctively know the BBC is bullshitting them. They know that every single story they report is beholden to maintaining the leftist consensus. I mean look at the utter ludicrousness of the “child” migrants who arrived in Croydon. Anyone with functioning brain cells could see these men were not children. Some of them were in their late 30s. The BBC insults our intelligence on a daily basis and only the incredibly naive can’t see that at this point. The BBC still absurdly insists it is impartial when it clearly isn’t, whereas I am honest, up front and open about my bias. People can see an authenticity in me that the likes of the BBC can never provide."

"As the dominant mammal on the face of the earth, as the clever one, the only one as far as we know capable of reflection and of accumulating knowledge, our duty is plain, to serve the lesser creation, to keep our world clean and pass on to posterity a record of which we shall not feel shame."

"must eat flesh or die; primitive man may be in the same state, whether he be or ; what about the sportsman? The man who owns a , or partridge manor has a moral right to take a share of the natural increase of the animals on his ground if he uses decent methods."

"This book is a record of pioneer farming on the , one of the , lying a little way out from the mainland in western . Here the author and his devoted wife became the owners of an abandoned and ruinous house, and by sheer hard work, without, as the author says, any considerable bank balance to which to turn for comfort, have renovated the land with lime and basic slag, have repaired the ruined quay, have brought the garden again to life, and although their work is not yet completed, have changed the face of the land."

"Brexit won't be easy, but it can be made to work for everyone. The first step in making Brexit a success is accepting it, and discussing the topic in a grown up and constructive manner. I'm sick of the constant nastiness and negativity; is there any wonder that people have such little trust in politicians when time is wasted on vicious personal attacks instead of trying to work together to get the best deal for everyone."

"As a right-winger and UKIP member, I believe in immigration. That sentence might sound slightly surprising coming from the General Secretary of a Party which is perceived by the media as anti-immigration. So let me explain. I reject uncontrolled immigration. I reject immigration beyond the ability of our country's infrastructure to cope. Recently, I’ve been listening to the Bruce Springsteen song "American Land". It starts off well enough, talking about people relocating to America as it grew and helping to build the country. That's the kind of immigration that I believe in. Those who believe that they can have a better life (in this case in the UK), who come over and are determined to see themselves as part of British culture and will put their heart and soul into improving this country for all of us. I'm talking about the kind of person who is proud to come to the United Kingdom and shows that pride at every opportunity. Such people are a real asset to the country. That's why I'm so angry at the 'left-wing' in British politics, which has consistently pursued an effective open-door immigration policy. Uncontrolled mass immigration doesn't provide any of those benefits, but instead creates huge cultural problems for us. Worse still, it creates resentment. In Sheffield, I see workers losing their jobs to immigrant workers. All that does is create resentment and fuels the kind of racism that we've painstakingly worked to get rid of from our nation."

"I would love to do that. They (Kohli and Root) have been playing brilliantly. I love both. Outstanding cricketers and they have been fantastic for a long period of time. Watching these two bat and perform in the way they have been performing, you can learn a lot."

"Root is a class player and he is one of the best around in all three formats of the game at the moment."

"He wants to learn new things and to evolve as a cricketer. What you have to understand is that Joe hasn't played that much T20 cricket, he hasn't had that much experience of playing in the subcontinent, he's still finding his way. So for him to go out in a tough situation [referring to a great game between England and South Africa, where Joe Root's 83 from 44 balls led to an achieved target of 230 to beat South Africa] - probably the situation dictated the way he had to play, started slowly but to keep up with the run rate he had to be innovative. But he just kept his cool, made sure the guys around him do a bit of work as well, so when you look at the bigger concept, he's the guy that England would want to do that kind of role for them in this tournament. [He is a] good all-round cricketer, there are about four-five young good players in this tournament that everyone is going to look out for and he is one of them"

"Root is the most complete batsman we've ever had, he's incredible."

"I just told [Ali] to stay calm. Remember that you’ve got more time than you think. In this format of the game the bowlers are under more pressure than you are. Stay nice and relaxed. Thankfully he managed to get us across the line."

"There’s no better feeling than winning when you’re up against it. More than anything I can’t wait to get back in the dressing room and celebrate with the rest of the boys."

"We tried not to be too greedy, and to play smart cricket and take it deep. It sets it up nicely for the group stages."

"I think our preparation has been good, we’ve worked extremely hard individually and as a team, and when it’s come to games the guys have stepped up and performed under pressure. That’s exactly what we need if we are to be very successful at this tournament. Under pressure the bowlers performed very well at the death, but now it’s about doing it when it counts. The best thing is we’ve got these experiences to call on when the tournament starts and we’re actually under real pressure when it really matters. Fingers crossed the guys can take all that confidence forward into the group games."

"There isn't much I find interesting to write about in middle-class life."

"I used to look at older people who bothered to still attend nightclubs and couldn’t help but wonder why. Didn’t they realize how foolish they looked? Of course, now that I’m one of those people myself, I have decided that such rules don’t apply to me."

"Whilst something is unknown, it could be anything. It could be the worst thing ever and usually when something starts to happen. You realise it’s not so bad."

"Tabloids invoke freedom of speech, but they're not interested in that, they're just interested in who's shagging whom, who's got drunk. And if you take that pretend, faux moral standpoint, you end up with people in public life being completely boring. Like they've had their genitals removed."

"Pornography takes all the reality out of sex and Disney does that to family life."

"Everybody's a bit screwed up, you know. You can take it as symptoms of a disorder, or you can take it as personality. Me, I'd rather think it as parts of personality."

"'The trouble is, it's hard to know you're little,' says Felicity. 'People like to make themselves matter.'"

"It had always seemed to Louis that a fundamental desire to take postal courses was being sublimated by other people into sexual activity."

"I like the English. They have the most rigid code of immorality in the world."

"With sociology one can do anything and call it work."

"I've often thought that my scruples about stealing books were the only thing that stood in the way of my being a really great scholar."

"Reading someone else's newspaper is like sleeping with someone else's wife. Nothing seems to be precisely in the right place, and when you find what you are looking for, it is not clear then how to respond to it."

"My experience of ships is that on them one makes an interesting discovery about the world. One finds one can do without it completely."

"Well," said Dr Jochum, "you are like all reformers. You like to reform the world because it is easier than trying to reform yourself."

"[A]nd the traffic noise that boomed in through the window was another reminder of what his spirit knew, that he was but a grain of sand in someone else's desert."

"Well, yes, surely I think everybody ought to enjoy life as much as it's humanly possible because that's why we exist. I believe."

"We got a course in picknicking at the university," said Dr. Bourbon. "It's called Geology, but it's really picknicking."

"The English are polite by telling lies. The Americans are polite by telling the truth."

"You see, you are an optimist and live on hope. I am a pessimist and live on experience."

"Jochum had said, "You keep asking the universe 'How ought I to live?' But it can't answer.""

"'Oh, everybody exploits somebody,' says Howard, 'in this social order it's part of the human lot.'"

"'Look, Felicity,' says Howard, 'there's only one rule. Follow the line of your own desires.'"

"'All action leads to suffering, someone else's, or one's own.'"

"'I think, George,' says Merion, ' the trouble is that you don't have a conflict model of society.'"

"'It must be nice to think there is a true reality,' says Miss Callendar. 'I've always found reality a matter of great debate.'"

"To you liberals, of course, goats are just sheep from broken homes."