"You used to get people writing in to the Liverpool Echo saying, ‘Who is this Martian walking round town?’ I used to get battered. Going out for lunch was like running the gauntlet."

“Coming back doing interviews is weird. It’s like an actor who takes a year off and just goes home, settles down, does some gardening, wakes up in the morning, worries about what to have for breakfast, then suddenly you’re plonked back in the middle of it all.”

“I got great voice training in St. Mary’s Church, Wavertree, in Liverpool, when I was a lad. Dressing up in cassocks was all part of the fun. I used to earn sixpence a week and although I don’t go to church very much any more, 'Once In Royal David’s City' is still my favourite hymn.”

“I was in Big In Japan between '77 and '78. Then I went solo, releasing a couple of singles. Then I joined the Dancing Girls who turned into the Sons Of Egypt who were then whittled down into Frankie Goes To Hollywood.”

“Dad wasn’t there much cos he had three or four jobs. First he was away at sea, later on he worked as an insurance salesman in the day and on a building site in the evening.”

“Showbiz is a very strange thing, I’ve got a love-hate relationship with that. In Liverpool your mates say, ‘You’re there, Holly, you’re there’ but they only see the end product, not what that entails.”

“We are here to stir things up. Even people that hate us have to admit that we’ve already succeeded in doing that. Love Frankie or hate it - that’s what we want - a strong reaction.”