The things you leave school knowing - some dates and long division - so much of it has been of no use to me. Schools should teach the basics of cookery, first aid, how to look after your money and how to speak foreign languages. Useful things.

I try to be classic without being mumsy.

I learnt basic cookery by watching my mum.

I swim more or less every day.

I was always very determined, as was my husband, that we wouldn't let any of our children act when they were young.

As a child, I wanted to marry a farmer, but no doubt the reality would have been very different to the idyll in my head.

I don't agree with the whole 'my mother's my friend' approach, because you're their mum and there has to be a difference between the generations.