Shirley Manson on the east/west divide: ‘People in Edinburgh don’t like to see anybody being successful, whereas in Glasgow they’re more encouraging’ (1987)

Peter Capaldi on the north/south divide: ‘The road from London to Glasgow means something slightly different if you’re Scottish; there’s another culture at the end, a mythological Glaswegian golden city’ (1993)

Martin Scorsese on his continued failure to get a major gong at the Oscars: ‘There’s no prize that’s going to make me feel better about myself. But if I didn’t get it for those pictures, what am I going to get it for? What more do they want to know?’ (1994)

David Bowie on public adoration: ‘I think you have to decide whether you want people to love you in which case you do things that match the audience’s expectations, or if you want to work in a more creative fashion which is not going to be universally adored’ (1995)

Patti Smith a year later on the very same subject: ‘I’m not like Judy Garland where I need people to tell me they love me so I can exist for another day’ (1996)

Madonna on fame: ‘It can end up becoming a substitute for real love and I think probably in different times of my life it has been’ (1998)

Steve Pemberton on The League Of Gentlemen’s TV debut: ‘It’s Take The High Road meets Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ (1999)

Ford Kiernan on Harry Hill’s TV show: ‘I mean I like him and all the rest of it, but there’s a pile of shite if ever I’ve seen it’ (1999)

Lothian And Borders Police press officer DS Ashworth on Irvine Welsh’s debut novel: ‘I can’t speak on behalf of the whole force but all the older Leith cops like me that read Trainspotting were all amazed at his grasp of the 80s drug scene in Edinburgh’ (2001)

Ricky Gervais on the public’s often warped sense of worth: ‘Some people value an actor from Hollyoaks above someone who’s cured cancer: “what’s he ever done? I haven’t seen him dancing with Suggs on Night Fever. Look at his hair: it’s rubbish”’ (2004)

Vernon God Little author DBC Pierre on the secret to life: ‘We’re human beings and we’re fucking stupid. Once we accept that, things look much rosier’ (2006)

Quentin Tarantino on whether he likes his own new film: ‘You don’t ask the chicken to comment on his soup’ (2009) 

John Waters reflects on the notorious scene in his 1972 movie Pink Flamingos in which drag icon Divine engaged with some canine faeces: ‘We did it to startle people, to get their attention. It’s probably illegal now’ (2014)

Hannah Gadsby on her groundbreaking show Nanette having to share the Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2017: ‘Absolutely no disrespect to John Robins, but just in that moment with the public discourse around women’s voices and the #MeToo movement, I saw it as quite a conservative decision when an arts festival could really have stepped up’ (2019)

Social-justice campaigner Mikaela Loach on how her very public obsession with all things pink and Barbie clashed with the actors’ union dispute. ‘The Barbie thing seemed a good platform to reach new audiences, until I realised the dilemma with strikers’ (2023)

Gary Oldman on why he’s only ever directed one film, 1997’s Nil By Mouth: ‘I’ve been in films where they promise one thing, and then they cut the budget, and then we haven’t got the days, and then they’re tearing pages out of the script, and they’re changing the story, and then it’s all what I call a “fuck, bollocks and a scramble” at the end of the day’ (2025)

We said what?!

Did we get it right every time? Mainly, but not always . . . 

About British football: ‘Wherever you care to look, the professional game in Scotland is healthier and its future prospects brighter than those of the English Football League’ (1985)

About Steve Coogan: ‘He is seriously out of his depth in front of a live audience’ (1990)

About Blur: ‘Leisure is an able debut. Whether Blur are vital enough to last out the year is quite another matter’ (1991)

Overheard in the editorial office about The Sopranos aka the best TV drama of all time: ‘You know, it’s fine’ (1999)

About Sara Pascoe: ‘Sheepish delivery and curious lack of stage presence’ (2011)

Follow The List’s timeline for more reminiscences from magazine’s past:
< The List at 40: Kathleen Morgan (editor 1995–1998) – ‘The hotel suites were tasteful, but his existence was suffocating’
>  The List at 40: Nick Barley (editor 2003–2007) – ‘The List was intoxicated by devolution and an emerging national confidence’

Main picture: Mia Mala McDonald.