Welcome to the world of wit and wisdom as expressed by Gyles Brandreth, a renowned British author, broadcaster, and former politician. With a career as varied and colorful as his personality, Brandreth has left an indelible mark on the realms of literature, entertainment, and public life. Known for his quick wit, sharp intellect, and boundless charm, Brandreth’s quotes resonate with readers and listeners around the globe, offering insight, humor, and often a dash of whimsy.
Whether he’s delving into the nuances of human nature, dissecting the intricacies of language, or simply sharing his unique perspective on life’s everyday occurrences, Brandreth’s words have a knack for leaving an impression. From clever quips to profound reflections, his quotes capture the essence of human experience with a delightful blend of insight and humor. As you explore this collection, prepare to be entertained, enlightened, and perhaps even inspired by the wit and wisdom of Gyles Brandreth. So without further ado, let’s dive into the delightful world of Gyles Brandreth quotes!
I was in the debating society at school, I was the president of the Oxford Union, and then I became an MP in the Nineties. Gyles Brandreth
If you are getting married it’s about the person you are marrying, it’s about the relationship. For me it’s not about the party. Gyles Brandreth
The private Prince Philip – the inner man – was infinitely more difficult to reach. He was more sensitive, more thoughtful and more tolerant than you’d expect, but he kept these qualities hidden. Gyles Brandreth
For more than 40 years now, relentlessly, I have been pursuing brief encounters with the great and the good. Gyles Brandreth
We did marry in secret and it was several years before we even told our parents that we were married. Gyles Brandreth
What happened between the sheets on the night of the royal wedding I cannot tell you. I was not there. Gyles Brandreth
People confuse being full of words with being terribly intelligent and informed. Gyles Brandreth
Prince Philip was a funny man who liked to laugh and make others laugh. Gyles Brandreth
There is an invisible moat around the senior royals. Gyles Brandreth
Several people have told me that Queen Elizabeth made slighting comments about Philip within their hearing, and referred to him – not entirely humorously – as ‘the Hun.’ Gyles Brandreth
The fact that the Meghan and Harry interview was aired while Philip was in hospital did not trouble him. What did worry him was the couple’s preoccupation with their own problems and their willingness to talk about them in public. Gyles Brandreth
Once, during one of the jubilee tours, I was in the car immediately behind theirs and I watched Prince Philip telling the Queen a story. He kept her laughing for 20 minutes. Gyles Brandreth
Prince Philip is conscious of his place in the heritage of the Royal Family. Gyles Brandreth
Business is not my forte. Gyles Brandreth
My introduction to the Queen was disconcerting, to say the least. ‘This is Gyles Brandreth,’ said the Duke of Edinburgh cheerily. ‘Apparently, he’s writing about you.’ Gyles Brandreth
During the summer of 2000, in the run-up to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother’s 100th birthday, I asked the Duke of Edinburgh if he was hoping to reach 100. ‘Good God, no,’ he spluttered, ‘I can’t imagine anything worse. What a ghastly idea.’ Gyles Brandreth
With a rowdy audience, the trick is not to go louder and try to beat them into submission. It’s to go quieter. As they get loud, you get soft. Then they lean in towards you to listen. Gyles Brandreth
I regularly dream about the Queen. Apparently, millions of people do. I wonder who she dreams about? Gyles Brandreth
Was Prince Philip in love when he proposed to Elizabeth? At the time, he was a relatively penniless prince, with a rackety family and no home to call his own. Gyles Brandreth
I’ve always adored Shakespeare. Gyles Brandreth
Prince Philip’s principal role since 1952 has been to support the Queen. Alongside that, he has created his own working life as founder, fellow, patron, president, chairman, or member of at least 837 organizations – as well as a Colonel or Colonel-in-Chief, Field Marshal, Admiral, Air Commodore 42 times over. Gyles Brandreth
I own a lot of novelty knitwear and I think some of it’s quite fun. Gyles Brandreth
They’re supposed to cure everything. Want a baby? Have a Brandreth pill. Don’t want a baby? Have a Brandreth pill. Gyles Brandreth
People are always asking me on to quizzes – they think I know all the answers because I burble on so, but I don’t do terribly well. Gyles Brandreth
I thought I would be Prime Minister. Gyles Brandreth
Prince Philip protected the Queen and made her laugh. Gyles Brandreth
I learnt German as well as English, so by the time I was three my parents has already decided I was a gifted child. Gyles Brandreth
‘An Audience With Kenneth Williams.’ My wife and I went with him to the recording. He was paid ?10,000, the largest fee he had ever received and was so nervous he was shaking. But his performance was matchless. He knew it was the best thing he’d ever done. Gyles Brandreth
I did once talk non-stop for 12 and a half hours, but it was to raise money for a worthwhile charity. At least, that’s my excuse. Gyles Brandreth
Playing games can contribute to making you happy, perhaps even without therapy. Gyles Brandreth
I wanted to have a house near his grave, and that’s exactly what I did get. When I woke up in the morning, I would open my window and look out upon Holy Trinity Church, where Shakespeare’s grave is. Not once did it fail to move me. Gyles Brandreth
I am interested in the Oscar Wilde we don’t know. Gyles Brandreth
Quite out of proportion to the size of the country, British children’s writers swept the world in the 20th century. We should celebrate them. Gyles Brandreth
The biggest and loudest weddings don’t always produce the happiest marriages. Gyles Brandreth
I don’t poo-pooh anyone’s knighthood or other honors. Gyles Brandreth
In many ways, Prince Philip was remarkably good-humored and long-suffering. Gyles Brandreth
What’s interesting is I don’t think you will find anyone to say anything against Des O’Connor, he was the nicest of people and the ultimate professional and he made it look effortlessly easy. Gyles Brandreth
First and foremost, I am a writer. That’s what I have spent my life doing. Gyles Brandreth
I’m a friend of Walter Cronkite. Gyles Brandreth
When I was 11, at prep school, I was starring in the school play, editing the school magazine and standing as Conservative candidate for the 1959 mock election. Gyles Brandreth
I’m grateful for laughter of any kind, but it can be off-putting if one person is laughing at a different time or in a different way from the rest of the audience. Gyles Brandreth
A chap can go too far in the pursuit of authenticity. Gyles Brandreth
When I was an MP, John Prescott barracked me in the House of Commons, shouting: ‘Woolly jumper! Woolly jumper!’ Gyles Brandreth
If you’re the Queen you don’t need to say anything and you don’t get into trouble. If you’re the Duke of Edinburgh you say a lot of things, sometimes too many, and you do get into trouble. Gyles Brandreth
Prince Philip is very contrary. He challenges everything. Gyles Brandreth
And the purpose of small talk is not to be controversial, clever or even interesting. It’s simply to fill the silent void with a small gesture of common humanity. It’s a spoken smile, a verbal handshake. Gyles Brandreth
I said to my wife, Michele, ‘What would you like for Christmas? Anything you want, darling, anything in our means.’ She said she would like me to be the weight I was when we married. So I will not gorge myself. Gyles Brandreth
If you are conscious of the journey you are taking, wherever you are it will help you know where you are going next. Gyles Brandreth
I met Ian McKellen queueing for returns and he said, ‘Are you wearing your tights under your trousers?’ and I said, ‘How on earth did you guess that?’ and he said, ‘Because I’m wearing mine.’ Gyles Brandreth
In fact, when I shake hands with all those wonderful people at the Stratford Literary Festival, they will be shaking hands with the hand that shook the hand of Oscar Wilde. Gyles Brandreth
To me Prince Philip was a hero and a role model – and a friend. Gyles Brandreth
People find communication in families difficult – games can help with that. Gyles Brandreth
Prince Philip prides himself on being a realist. He knows he is not going to live for ever. Gyles Brandreth
Life has not turned out as I hoped it would. Gyles Brandreth
Not only did I cross-dress at 10, playing Rosalind in ‘As You Like It,’ I also found myself in a cross-dressed part at 60, when I played Lady Bracknell in ‘The Importance of Being Earnest.’ Gyles Brandreth
I know that the Duke of Edinburgh’s rule was, ‘Don’t talk about yourself, don’t give personal interviews.’ I know that, and I know he told his children that because he told me. Gyles Brandreth
Among the upper classes, especially three or four generations ago, men and women had separate bedrooms. That’s just the way it was. Gyles Brandreth
It is exhausting to be giving one’s all in the theatre, my first duty is to my paying public, of course! Gyles Brandreth
Now I’m just loving the world of Oscar Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle so much. I really wouldn’t want to go back into the world of Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling – where would the fun and adventure be in that? Gyles Brandreth
I made that great mistake of trying to be funny. Gyles Brandreth
When it comes to personal communication, words are all we’ve got. It is the simple use of language that makes us human beings. Gyles Brandreth
Long after Mae West is forgotten, her words will live on. Gyles Brandreth
The essence of democracy is that you can kick people out. Gyles Brandreth
The buffoon is a product of the woolly jumpers in the 1980s on ‘TV:am.’ It was a costume and I loved earning money before breakfast, but 9 A. M. came and I then took off the woolly jumpers. Gyles Brandreth
When I was a boy, I began writing a biography of Shakespeare, and since then I’ve written a number of biographies of actors and famous people. Gyles Brandreth
I’m happy inside my own skin. Gyles Brandreth
Prince Philip had formally ‘retired’ in the summer of 2017, a couple of months after his 96th birthday, because the Queen encouraged him to do so. She wanted to stop him ‘pushing himself all the time’. She had become anxious about him. Gyles Brandreth
Private weddings are becoming something of a family tradition. My daughter Saethryd married her husband Jason at Marylebone Register Office in 2005 while my wife and I had a lunch at Pizza Express. Gyles Brandreth
I’ve learnt that you’ve got to accept the audience you’ve got. Gyles Brandreth
Whatever you wanted in entertainment, Des O’Connor could provide, so he was in a way the last of his kind. Gyles Brandreth
When you are standing in a corner at the party, when you’ve arrived early for the meeting, when the doors have closed but the lift won’t start, there’s nothing worse than being lost for words. Gyles Brandreth
Being made redundant is a personal tragedy. Gyles Brandreth
I have been an MP and government minister. Gyles Brandreth
I told Prince Philip that, having met them both, I was struck, not by the differences between him and Charles, but by their similarities. Gyles Brandreth
We loved the line ‘I’m a luxury… few can afford.’ It still makes me smile. It’s a jumper for people with a sense of style and a sense of humor. Gyles Brandreth
I’d known the Duke of Edinburgh over a period of 40 years, so I’d long been accustomed to his sense of humor. Gyles Brandreth
I don’t want to jeopardize my relationship with royalty by saying too much. Gyles Brandreth
The Queen is frequently on her own, walking the dogs, riding her horses, playing patience, completing a jigsaw, sorting her photograph albums, watching television, phoning friends, doing the Telegraph crossword. Is she neglected? Is she suffering? Or does she simply understand her man? Gyles Brandreth
Indeed, the Duke of Edinburgh’s disdain for his eldest son was all the more shocking because he made little or no attempt to hide it. Gyles Brandreth
There are people who have rabbit stew still, it’s quite a dish! Gyles Brandreth
It’s good to stretch your mind. Gyles Brandreth
A humorous quotation is a little window on the world that gives life a comic twist. Gyles Brandreth
I think the Duke of Edinburgh would have been pleasantly surprised by the reaction to his death. Gyles Brandreth
I suppose I am instinctively flirtatious. But not exclusively to women. I want to be liked. Gyles Brandreth
I know I’m hated. Or rather, that people struggle with dislike for me. Gyles Brandreth
Princess Anne is like her father. From her, you’ll never hear a complaint of any kind about her upbringing. Gyles Brandreth
There’s nothing so unemployable as a man in his 50s who’s no longer on the winning side. Gyles Brandreth
It’s called ‘Odd Boy Out’ because as I was writing it I realized I was a bit of an oddity as a child. Gyles Brandreth
I heard one woman say to another in the queue at a book signing: ‘I shouldn’t be buying this. He’s a former Tory MP, you know.’ Gyles Brandreth
Greyfriars School is like Hogwarts School in the Harry Potter stories and the whole world of magic is the world of J.M.Barrie. Gyles Brandreth
Bob Hope said: ‘You know you’re getting old when the candles cost more than the cake.’ And while this quote is generally amusing, it is even more amusing when you know he said that when he was old. Gyles Brandreth
I have been a print journalist. Gyles Brandreth
It was Napoleon who said if you want to understand a man, look at the world as it was when he was 20. When the Queen and the Duke were in their early 20s, it’s around 1940. Their values are the values of Britain in 1940; all that is best of Britain in 1940 is exemplified by the Duke. Gyles Brandreth
I was lucky enough to know Prince Philip in his prime – the most dynamic man I have ever met. And I was privileged to know him almost to the end. Gyles Brandreth
For centuries in Britain, the small-talk standby has been the weather. Gyles Brandreth
We’re only here once and there are lots of things I want to do. Gyles Brandreth
When I was an MP, I worked at the department where we gave honors to people from the arts world, I was quite keen. Gyles Brandreth
Contrary to the popular caricature of him, the Duke of Edinburgh was neither judgmental nor unfeeling. Gyles Brandreth
I mean, I am relatively pleased with myself and the world. But I don’t assume that I’m liked. Gyles Brandreth
If you were doing a Des O’Connor show, you were in safe hands. Gyles Brandreth