We stress this commitment by saying, "Our job begins the day we buy a company." It's not about the transaction itself.

Treat writing as a job. Be disciplined. Lots of writers get a bit OCD-ish about this. Graham Greene famously wrote 500 words a day. Jean Plaidy managed 5,000 before lunch, then spent the afternoon answering fan mail. My minimum is 1,000 words a day – which is sometimes easy to achieve, and is sometimes, frankly, like shitting a brick, but I will make myself stay at my desk until I’ve got there, because I know that by doing that I am inching the book forward. Those 1,000 words might well be rubbish – they often are. But then, it is always easier to return to rubbish words at a later date and make them better.

Exactly. The biggest misconception people have about chefs is that they are just one person. But that couldn't be further from the truth. Restaurants are all about the teams, people working together efficiently in a small space and getting the best results again and again.

After four knee surgeries and hundreds of shots injected into my knee weekly to alleviate swelling and pain, my body is begging me to stop the pounding. My previous three surgeries were on my right knee. My most recent knee surgery took place this July and was on my left knee.

Retiring from playing rugby.

Last week when I read a passage from the novel my wife is writing.

I paid $84,000 in 1988 for a Porsche 928S.

I would not get married until I was in my 30s.

"I'd rather keep quiet and have people think I am stupid than open it and prove I am." I was selling cars to pay my way through university. The company car buyer said that to me.

My tendency to be inappropriate.