The trouble when you die is that everyone says you were nice. I would like to be thought of as genuinely nice. I would like there to be people who can honestly say, 'Len! Oh yeah, there was more good than bad in him.'

Obviously you can't please everyone. I'm sure some people say, 'Bloody old Len Goodman gets on my nerves.'

I've never really been very good at marriage. It's one of my failures. I've tried my best, but I do realise the common denominator is me; it's something I'm doing.

There are no gentlemen in anything competitive – you want to win.

I haven’t danced since 1973; I’m too old.

I always think of a show like a plant – a little pruning now and then keeps it healthy, but you shouldn’t pull it out and chop the roots up.

I always tell the adults at my dance school, ‘Men, you are going to have to do something that you are absolutely not used to: you have got to take command and be the boss.’ Because – and this is just an observation – women get their way.

I’m a technophobe. I can’t crack the iPhone, and the extent of my multitasking is being able to talk while I make a drink.

The thing with children is they’re a bit like baking a fruitcake: you throw all the ingredients in but you never know how they’re going to turn out.

Children give life a reason to be – they make life.