I have a lot of respect and admiration for President Carter. It was a delight when I got the Nobel Peace Prize to get a letter from him. It meant a lot to me, getting that letter from a man who is my idol in many ways. ... He always has the courage to express his views, his convictions. He doesn’t hesitate to run against the current. He has always had a moral certitude. He looks at the ethics and morality of his action, and that’s key. Whatever we do in life, whether privately or publicly, we need to have a compass. We need to be sure that what we do is not only good for us, but good for the people at large. That’s ethics. That’s morality. I think we need to always know that our work is not just good for us in the short term, but it’s morally correct. And when I talk about morality, I don’t talk about religion. I talk about a moral code, a moral value, which I think we all have, being honest, being fair, being correct. These are values I think we all share.

Pamela Anderson, because I love her strength and honesty and vulnerability at the same time.

Peter Tatchell is a person very worthy of admiration, but few ever seem to acknowledge him as such.

The pope. I was brought up in the Catholic religion, and I think he is trying to make the church more accepting of all. He’s got a very hard job because the church is very stuck in its rightwing conservative ways.

Cruelty. I don’t see the point.

My late wife – she died of cancer. We tried everything we could do to save her. I wish that I could have done more and that I could have been with her at the moment she passed away. I couldn’t be in that room, because I knew it would be so devastating that I wouldn’t be able to take care of the kids after.

A meal alfresco with people I love.

I am always disappointed in myself. I always feel that I haven’t achieved enough, or been as good a parent as I could be.

Every time one of my kids was born and I knew that they were healthy.

Losing one of my children, as there is no greater loss.