I came home after a year and although my profession was only hairdressing I knew I could change it.

I got a telegraph from my mother who said that my step-father had had a heart attack come home and earn a living. So I went back to England and the only thing I knew to earn any cash was through hairdressing.

At home it's all Batman and Star Wars and they do gang up on me. Sometimes I don't want to dress up as Darth Vader or play train sets so I'll go out for a drink with the girls.

The aesthetic came along the way I think - just through experimenting and going on tour and trying stuff out on stage having fun with it and not taking it too seriously. If I had a ballgown at home I'd wear it onstage. If I found something in a charity shop I'd wear it. That's where it grew from - just wanting to play dress-up.

I have a life that I enjoy I try and value the things that I think are worth valuing and everything else is icing. You know it is a kick to go down the red carpet in that dress and then you go back home.

With all the hundreds of dresses and shoes I have it would be an absolute crime if I don't have a little girl. I have a whole room at home filled with my stage wear.

If I go into a sandwich shop or anywhere that features 'Today's specials' on a chalkboard more than 10 feet away I have to ask for a printed menu. I smile at people I don't know on the street and ignore those I do. When at home I often find myself grabbing my 'back-up' glasses to search for the better-loved pair I have left on top of my dresser.

It's like kids playing house: 'You play the father I'll play the mother.' You know you dress up you play they pay you go home. It's a game - acting's a game.

My wife and I had decided not to let anybody take pictures of our home because it was just the last place on earth we had that was unscathed. But people have climbed over the fence they've taken aerial shots. They've gotten my address and put it on the Internet.

I have a dress-up chest at home. I love to create this fantasy kind of thing.

I like to maintain a certain sense of fantasy in my life. I am kind of like that at home. Do I have the full hair and makeup? No. But I might have the nice dress on.

By the time you get dressed drive out there play 18 holes and come home you've blown seven hours. There are better things you can do with your time.

There's a continuity between what I care about in any form: I care about it in my music in article-writing in how I dress in how I live in my relationships in how I navigate paparazzi how I decorate my home. There's such a continuity between everything that I don't really care what form it shows up in.

In history people dressed much better than we do today.

We are dealing with the best-educated generation in history. But they've got a brain dressed up with nowhere to go.

An Edwardian lady in full dress was a wonder to behold and her preparations for viewing were awesome.

As we get closer to the end of this Congress we should be addressing the urgent needs of the American people - the war in Iraq affordable health care a sensible energy policy quality education for our children retirement security and a sound and fair fiscal policy.

But the dollars spent on economic incentives and new investment strategies are wasted unless we seriously address the two most important economic issues in Kansas: education and health care.

The time is now for Congress to address health care in America.

And whether it is equal pay health care Social Security or family leave this Congress has refused to address issues critical to hard-working American women.

I think that we have a number of different health care challenges in our country and certainly addressing the uninsured is one and the second is making sure that those with health insurance actually get the care that they assume they'll have available to them if they get sick.

There is a consensus of willing leaders from both parties coalescing around the right way forward in health care. Reform should address government-imposed inequities and barriers to true choice and competition.

One of the most difficult speeches to prepare is an address to a graduation class which is why I don't often do them.

A graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement speaker tells thousands of students dressed in identical caps and gowns that 'individuality' is the key to success.