With which historical figure do you most identify?
St Vincent de Paul - give something back and help the needy.

Which living person do you most admire?
This is a tough one, maybe Steven Spielberg.

What is your favourite film?
National Lampoon's Animal House.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Unpunctuality, followed by laziness.

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Patience - I want it now!

What is your most embarrassing moment?
When I tried joking with the female American Customs Officer.

What is your favourite book?
Just about any George Orwell novel - at the moment probably Keep the Aspidistra Flying.

What is your greatest extravagance?
A nice piece of mature Stilton with several glasses of vintage port.

Where would you most like to live?
Mexico, in some little fishing village on the Pacific coast (hurricane proof, of course).

What is your favourite journey?
Usually up the stairs to bed. However, the journey between Puebla and Apizaco in central Mexico is truly stunning as the vast, smoking, snow-capped Popocatapetl volcano gives way to the lush vegetation of the Apizaco plain.

What is your favourite song/piece of music?
The End by The Doors is magnificent on many different levels but Section 43 and Bass Strings on the original protest EP by Country Joe and The Fish makes a damn good case.

What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Beer after wine is fine, wine after beer makes you queer. Or is it the other way around? I can never remember.

What is your most unappealing habit?
I still smoke, so I guess that must be the answer here.

What is your greatest regret?
That I actually paid to see Beavis and Butthead do America at the cinema.

How do you relax?
Usually with a large glass of Rioja and a couple of ciggies. The internet is fast becoming my favourite past-time (as my last BT bill can attest).

What is your favourite TV show?
I cannot miss an episode of The Simpsons.

What would your motto be?
Carpe Diem.

What keeps you awake at night?
Radio 4/World Service ... or indigestion from all that Stilton and Port.

What vehicles do you own?
I have owned a number of dodgy vehicles in the past, however, last week I finally splashed out on a Ford Granada 2.0L DOHC automatic - smart. Anyone want to buy a cheap Talbot Horizon 1.3 Ultra?