I can go for weeks without opening the mail. I can look at a letter that has just dropped through the letterbox, wonder what it is and then just shred it.

Laziness. After 30 years of being a disciplined athlete with an intensely tight schedule, I still can’t forgive myself for letting things slide.

If I had a trait that I truly deplored, I would work to erase or modify it…Probably, a lack of discipline. (Though people think that I write quickly, & don’t revise, quite the reverse is true.) To myself, I work very slowly & painstakingly, & am often frustrated by accomplishing so little. My friend Margaret Atwood has said that in the late afternoon she is likely to be overcome by a feeling of desperation that she has accomplished so little that day, & this is a feeling I share, often. It seems that I waste most of my time gazing out the window here at my (overgrown) garden; & when I am in Berkeley, where I spend about one-third of the year, I am forever gazing out the window toward the San Francisco Bay & a continually changing, always-beautiful sky.

Fear, anxiety and panic attacks.

Brian May, because of his love of wildlife and love of music. He’s a kind, gentle soul.

Enthusiastic, enthusiastic, enthusiastic.

I once did a record store signing in LA, which I had no business doing. No one was there – just staff. They were getting ready to close the shop and sweeping up.

Laughing and silliness.

I have lots of beliefs about that, but that will have to wait for another interview.

People told us Eurovision was like a poisoned chalice – to have been part of an amazing team that worked on changing the attitudes around that is really cool.