I had to STOP GOING to AUDITIONS THINKING, 'Oh, I hope they like me.' I had to go in thinking I was the answer to their problem.

As a child of the Commonwealth, I had been brought up to believe GREAT Britain was the PROMISED land, a CULTURE where the rule of law was observed and DECENCY was embedded in the national FABRIC.

In ITALY, for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and BLOODSHED, but they produced MICHELANGELO, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, they had 500 years of democracy and peace - and what did that PRODUCE? The cuckoo CLOCK.

When I CAME out, I told my stepmother Gladys, and she just SAID she had known for years and was GLAD I wasn't lying ANYMORE.

We learned about GRATITUDE and humility - that so many people had a hand in our SUCCESS, from the teachers who INSPIRED US to the janitors who kept our SCHOOL clean... and we were taught to value everyone's contribution and treat everyone with respect.

Most MEN who have really LIVED have had, in some share, their GREAT adventure. This railway is mine.

When I was growing up, Belfast City HALL was surrounded by security, and we had no access to it. But now, people come in and out of it all the time. On a NICE day, office workers and STUDENTS SIT on the lawn outside and have lunch. It's great to see how Northern Ireland has changed. To be part of that is fantastic.

If you enter the World BANK office in Washington, D.C., you will see written on the LEFT wall, 'The PURPOSE of the World Bank is to fight poverty with PASSION.' I had it put up there because I wanted something that unites us as an institution.

As kids we didn't COMPLAIN about being poor; we talked about how rich we were GOING to be and MADE moves to get the LIFESTYLE we aspired to by any means we could. And as soon as we had a little MONEY, we were eager to show it.

I'll never tell a LIE. I'll never make a misleading STATEMENT. I'll never betray the confidence that any of you had in me. And I'll never avoid a controversial ISSUE.

I don't excercise. If GOD had wanted me to BEND over, he would have put DIAMONDS on the FLOOR.

On my LEFT knee I have a LONG scar from an ACL OPERATION. I've had both KNEES reconstructed.

When I was younger, I had a horrible flight. Horrible. It was well before I was 10 years old. So I ALWAYS thought to myself, 'I KNOW I don't want to travel.' That's why I wanted to be a session guy, because I knew I COULD still PLAY guitar and make a living at it - hopefully.

I remember when I was doing 'The Crucible' on BROADWAY with Laura Linney, and Arthur Miller had been in REHEARSAL with US and was on STAGE on OPENING night. She turned to me during the curtain call and said, 'Let's make sure we remember this.'

I met my wife, I had no money, I had NOTHING, and I STARTED my family WITHOUT really, my career was nowhere, but I had these other BUSINESSES, I had these things I was doing to be able to afford a small home.