I grew up on a suburban street with lace curtains and dull neighbours, so I made up stories to tell my friend, in which they became serial killers and burglars. She told her mother, who then told mine.

I wanted to tell the story of Luong Ung, who's a dear friend of mine.

My friend is he who will tell me my faults in private.

The character of the monkey just grew from something out of his face and my granddad's personality. They fused, and that's what I ended up with! The monkey belonged to a friend of mine, and I saw that it had such a little beguiling face and it grew from there.

A good friend of mine was Lucy Ball. Her mother and my mother were best friends.

Rupert Murdoch is a good friend of mine.