SERVICE OF THE MOST HUMBLING KIND

 
When you get to my age, charity work becomes a necessary fact of life, through it we old rock stars get to stay in contact with the rigours of the real world and also get to meet many new people. It is service of the most humbling kind and one of the most levelling aspects is being ticked off by press diarists who seem to believe we only do it for some selfish, self-serving motive, to which I can only say: If you don't like my trumpet go try blowing one of your own....

I am proud that what I do provides jobs, and although I am wealthy and privileged, in my heart and my actions I am still a socialist and activist, ready to stand by the underdog and the beaten down, and to entertain them if I can....

I have moved on. I have always carried within me a defiant, sometimes argumentative and combative pride. It still sits very close to the surface of my psyche, just under the skin, ready to flare up in anger, to leap out and fight. It is in my soul.