Career high: When we went to see the first Pendolino arrive from the factory in 2003.

Career low: Realising my phone was being hacked but no-one would believe me.

Favourite meal: I like to cook pheasant casserole, made with red wine and prunes with mashed potato and red cabbage, followed by either sticky toffee pudding or tiramisu.

Favourite holiday location: The Blue Waters Resort, Antigua.

Favourite film: The Long Good Friday, starring Bob Hoskins, which sums up London in the 80s when I first arrived there.

Favourite music: David Bowie Life on Mars and my favourite new band is Jungle.

Last book read: Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick, a harrowing tale of life in North Korea.

Best personality trait: Cautious optimism.

Worst personality trait: Answering questions when the other person is still asking them.

Best advice: From Sir Freddie Laker. I sat at a meeting when he said, 'When BA come after you, which they inevitably will, shout long, shout hard and then sue the b*******.'

Biggest influence: Professor James Lovelock, he established gaia theory, that the planet is one enclosed ecosystem. He discovered the hole in the ozone layer and worked out how to fix it.

Perfect dinner guests: my family and close friends, I'm never happier than when they're all around, as well as Marie Curie, Elon Musk, Prof James Lovelock, Natalie Imbruglia and my partner Alison