People who earn reasonable amounts are being turned into the anti-Christ. I think 45 per cent tax is a colossal amount to take off somebody, and it is taking away the incentive to earn.

There's no getting away from it: you have to clean.

When I was 16 I got a school holiday job at Minton's pottery factory in Staffordshire, packing plates. For a month's work, I was paid £44. Everything I now know about the birds and the bees, I learnt there.

If your fridge is full this Christmas, use nature's refrigerator - your car!

Rearranging furniture, adding some candles, or making even small tweaks can really make the difference.

Often, there is a job - say, for a voiceover or an appearance - and you think: 'Blimey!' From the outside it would seem like you are being paid a lot for a short amount of your time. It would be inappropriate to share how much they pay, but in the industry we call it 'doing a bank raid'. Unfortunately, those jobs do not happen every week.

The late 1990s were good to me. I was doing the Lottery, GMTV and I had a good contract with ITV. But I was working so hard, I never had time to celebrate. I never thought I was lucky.