When I was a child I devoured every book I could get my hands on. I loved losing myself in colourful and dramatic stories - and my absolute favourite was 'Charlie And The Chocolate Factory.' Everything about it electrified me, and when I re-read Roald Dahl's books as an adult it surprised me.

I used to have a silk dressing gown an uncle bought in Japan and when I came downstairs in it, my dad used to call me Davinia. There was never embarrassment about that kind of thing. My sister used to dress me up a lot. She thought I was a little doll.

No more watching that show Small England or whatever it's called where those two idiots dress up as 'laydees'. It's a bad influence.

People think writing a children's book is something you could do in an afternoon but it's actually really hard.

I don't get recognized much, and am very happy with that. The fans I have met have all been delightful.

When you are doing endurance swimming you just need to take in as many carbs as possible to put on as much weight as you can. Basically you can eat whatever you want, which can be quite fun. Everything is guilt-free.

All human life can be found in an airport.