Q: What were you like at school?

I liked drawing and making up stories. I was the one sitting at the back and looking out of the window.

Q: Which three words describe you best?

Have pencil will travel. Oops that’s 4, maths was never my strong point.

Q: What is your favourite word?

This week it’s Somnambulist. Look it up if you can’t sleep.

Q: What makes you cringe?

Making a mistake and not being able to change it.

Q: What is your most treasured possession?

Leonardo da Vinci’s big pencil, but I don’t have the sharpener.

Q: What’s your favourite food?

Yorkshire puddings, the ones the angels make, not the other ones.

Q: What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?

An explorer.

Q: What quality do you most admire in a person?

Kindness.

Q: What is the most interesting place you have ever visited?

The top of Mount Sinai first thing in the morning.

Q: What is the best advice anyone has ever given you?

See all, hear all, say nowt. Eat all, drink all, pay nowt.

Q: How long have you been a writer?

About 5 feet 8 inches on a good day.

Q: Was there a moment in your life when you decided to become a writer?

It was the night the thunderbolt struck Aunt Betty’s chimney. There was a loud noise, a flash of light - and now Aunt Betty’s bantam, every time she lays an egg, she sings the National Anthem.

Q: What are the best and worst things about being an author?

The best thing is the beach side villa in Wai-Ki-Ki. Every author is given one by the Arts Council when they have written their first 500 pages. The worst thing is not finding anywhere to land my helicopter when I visit schools.

Q: Where do you get your greatest ideas from?

The Big Book of Bright Ideas. See if you can order it from the library.

Q: What do you do to combat writer’s block?

I go outside into the garden where my 3 specially trained woodpeckers gently tap me on the head and give me ideas in Morse code.

Q: What book do you wish you had written?

The Big Book of Bright Ideas.