Lesley Nicol Quotes

The first time I ever got up on a stage, I did a comedy poem. I don't know how I got there in the first place because I was very, very shy.

I inherited my weight problem from my mum. She was always on diets. If there was a box of chocolates in the house, she'd eat half a chocolate, then put the other half back. She loved me, but she did encourage me to diet in my teens.

I think I should be a nightclub singer. I love to sing!

I don't have any rules when it comes to clothes. I'll wear anything if it fits and looks good.

The first role I played was Madame Ranevsky in 'The Cherry Orchard.'

For years, I've felt that there's an inner cook in me just waiting to be unleashed. But I have to confess I'm having an awful lot of trouble finding her in real life.

I've not cooked Christmas dinner since 1982.

I'm not very good with conventional, prim-and-proper people who are well-behaved, grown-up.

When I heard I had gotten 'Downton Abbey,' I remember I was standing on a freezing cold street in Manchester where we were shooting the Manchester part of 'West is West.'

I took a cookery course. On the examination, I had to cook a cheese omelet with peas and an egg custard. With the egg custard, which was supposed to be a dessert, I forget to put the sugar in, so that's more of a quiche, isn't it?

I met Bette Midler, who I absolutely love.

At the drop of a hat, people will say there are no roles for women after 40. It's there with a bunch of other rules I'm not interested in.

People have preconceptions about women of a certain age.

I guess that is my favorite thing - to make people laugh and also to maybe engage them emotionally and touch them somehow in telling the story.

I want to have a scene with Maggie Smith.

I know it sounds funny, but every time I have a disaster in the kitchen, it knocks my confidence level a little bit more, and I feel annoyed with myself that I can't do better.

When you look back, I think things are as they are meant to be. Timing is very important.

I sometimes wonder what it would have been like if I'd got 'Downton Abbey' when I was 22.

I mean, I've done musicals, but it's not my best thing.

I never imagined I'd go into acting, but I always loved drama, and when I was 16, I discovered the Library Theatre up the road. So I plucked up courage and asked if I could watch rehearsals. It was like Heaven.

For many years, I picked the wrong men, or they picked me. I think if you don't feel attractive or worth something as a woman, you attract men who don't really look after you. That's what happened to me, but I realise that those relationships were like a journey, helping me to learn something about myself.

'Sweeney Todd' is my favorite Sondheim musical.

I'm very lucky to have a husband who cooks, for a start. It's a good partnership. I met him through a friend, and we just hit it off.

I believe anything can happen.

One of the Sunday newspapers asked me to make my favorite dish, and they photographed me holding it in the kitchen. It was roasted salmon with roasted vegetables. That's not cooking; that's putting things in a pan. It looked quite nice, but I'm not saying it was good.

I did an O-level in domestic science when I was at school, but on the day of the practical exam, it was a cookery nightmare.

My poor cooking is legendary among my friends.

I've been to the White House and had Hilary Clinton push through the crowd to come and meet me. Chelsea Clinton, too.

People are always asking me for my favorite recipe, and I have to say, 'I don't really have one.'

I can do basics, but I'm not a proper cook. I can do a roast. I can stick a chicken in the oven with vegetables.

I don't like being shouted at.

I get invited to a lot more glamorous parties since I've been in 'Downton Abbey,' which has made me much more fashion conscious.

People I've never spoken to before come up to me and give me a hug.

I go dog-walking a lot.