Like most girls, I fantasized about being some sort of a princess.

I've made my pact with the Lord for the next lifetime. I would love to be a first-class musician. A super one.

I hate the word wholesome.

Did you ever notice the color of Mary Poppins' petticoats? They were kind of orange and apricot and red. I think she had a secret life going on there.

I am very proud to be British. I'm very conscious of carrying my country with me wherever I go. I feel I need to represent it well.

If you've been fortunate enough to do a film that appeals to the entire family, that's the audience that's probably going to come back to you in something else.

I don't want to be thought of as wholesome.

I had a teacher who stressed for me the importance of diction in terms of... I want to be very careful about how I say this... in terms of supporting one's voice when one is singing. In other words, if you hold on to your words, your voice will pull through for you when you're singing. So be true to your vowels.

I love to prune my roses. That's the one thing I really feel I do pretty well. Other things I usually, because I travel so much, leave to my gardeners who know what I love. But I do love to prune them, because you forget everything else. It's like if you're a painter, you can forget everything else while you're doing it.

I did all of my learning on 'My Fair Lady.'

I was a child prodigy who had a freak voice of something like four octaves.

I would be a fool to deny my own abilities.

I turned down 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brody' with Maggie Smith. I think she got the Academy Award.

I am an optimistic lady.

I had toured around England endlessly throughout my teens, but when I came to the U.S. to perform on Broadway, that was a huge step.

I am thrilled to be dame. It's one of those - the fact that you have been honored by your country is what it's all about, and it just feels good right there.

I justified working so hard by knowing that I was helping to maintain the roof over our heads.

I'd say just go with the flow. And I take my hat off to any mother out there who works full-time and raises a family as well. It's hard work.

Who would have thought that a story about a professor of phonetics would result in it being probably one of the great shows ever for musical theatre? It's a seemingly odd subject.

More than anything, the arts are the best teaching tool.

I adored my birth father and constantly worried that I was being disloyal to him and his schoolteacher roots if I spent too much time performing and enjoying it.

I've got a good right hook.

On the whole, I think women wear too much and are to fussy. You can't see the person for all the clutter.

For me, whenever I choose a song to sing, it's about the lyric first.

I was named after my two grandmothers - Julia Elizabeth.

Because of the Thames I have always loved inland waterways - water in general, water sounds - there's music in water. Brooks babbling, fountains splashing. Weirs, waterfalls; tumbling, gushing.

I had a lot of learning on my feet.

I've always admired gardens. My father was a great nature lover and would always take me for walks. We lived not too far away from huge rhododendron estates and azalea estates, and when they're in bloom in England, they're just riotous.

I'm not very good with rap and things like that.

I play with my grandchildren. I tend to my garden, which I love. Of course, I love to read, and family is really what it's all about.

I didn't know other children from divorced families, and I was a bit of a lost soul for a while. Then suddenly, I was performing. And it gave me an identity.