In quotes: Bob Crow

Bob Crow, the leader of the RMT union who has died aged 52, was well-known for his quips and comments. Here is a collection of some of the most memorable:

"Four families shared the bathroom, and that's up to 1967. There was no cooker. There was two rings, that's all. There was no cooker. It was falling apart the place down there." On his youth

"I have a barometer in the house and if I could have been anything else other than a union official I would have been a footballer - or a weatherman." On his career

"It's an old media myth that the Rail, Maritime and Transport union resorts to industrial action lightly." On strikes

"I couldn't care less if we had no strikes in 10 years, or we had a million strikes." More on strikes

"You keep telling us it's an open door, but it's a revolving door. We keep on coming out the same side we come in." To London Mayor Boris Johnson about redundancy negotiations

"I was born in a council house. As far as I'm concerned I will die in one." Asked why he lived in a council house, despite earning £145,000 a year

"What do you want me to do? Sit under a tree and read Karl Marx every day?" Asked why he had gone on holiday when his union was in talks over jobs

"My body never burns, because I'm a Greek god." When criticised for not using sun cream

"I won't shed one single tear over her death. She destroyed the NHS and destroyed industry in this country and as far as I'm concerned she can rot in hell." On the death of Baroness Thatcher

"He squandered a massive landslide from an electorate hungry for change, poured billions of public pounds into private pockets and accelerated the growing gap between rich and poor." On Tony Blair

"I'd put a 1p tax on every text message that's sent in Britain. That would nearly wipe out half the deficit." On public finances

"At the end of the day, as general secretary of a union, you've got to be larger than life. You don't want to mooch around in a grey suit and eat a sandwich every lunchtime. You want someone with a bit of a spark about him." His last interview, for BBC Radio 4's PM

"I don't like to be gobby or like to be flash or arrogant. I don't like that." Same interview