121 Quotes by David Starkey

I wouldn't dream of commenting on Hilary Mantel as a novelist, frankly I'd be grateful if she stayed off my patch as a historian. She is intelligent, she is bright, she is an admirable writer. I happen to find her Tudor novels unreadable, but that's because I am a Tudor historian.

Delving into history is not an escape for me. I'm like a detective, sniffing for clues with a terrier-like excitement.

If I'm relaxing, I'll make a proper cooked breakfast and very slowly drift into the day.

In the same way that I've no desire to live in earlier historical periods, I never touch historical recipes. Most historical cooking is detestable.

The food of my childhood was revolting because I was a child of rationing. However, I still managed to be a very plump child and, indeed, as a teenager, positively fat. In my early twenties I lost three stone in one summer using the only diet that works: the pure protein diet. I kept to it until I was about 50.

I enjoy cooking, but stick to modern dishes.

I never snack apart from fruit such as Cox's apples.

I'm not a completely envy-free zone - I envy 25-year-old men with magnificent bodies - but when I look at my colleagues on the whole, I don't think I have much to envy!

I mean, really, compared to a senior civil servant, I'm very modestly paid!