My grandfather was a vicar, and there was quite a lot of churchgoing when I was growing up. It's a world that I spent a lot of time around.

My dad was a civil servant, and my mum was a secretary.

If I can laugh with people, it makes me feel safe with them. If I feel someone has no sense of humour, I find it really scary. I do it with the kids as well: put on stupid voices to lighten up the spirit or gee them along to do something.

I always imagine people give succinct answers. I have no prepared thoughts on what I do.

I come from a petit bourgeois family, and I've always been drawn to artists and people who choose their own way of life instead of being chosen by the lives that people want for them.

I'm not cut out for that life; for sharing my life. Whether it's getting married, or having kids. That too drastically changes your life. Everything important to you becomes less important, because the child gains utmost importance.

The subtle generational cues that make one thing cool and another uncool aren't always obvious to a parent. My children are my dinner-table sounding board. I've come up with some wonderful ideas that they universally dismissed as 'lame.'

I grew up in a single-family detached house. My parents are wonderful.