A sailor. I wanted to be in the Royal Navy like my grandad.

At the end he asked me if I would like to go into the Army. I thought it would be splendid to command an Army, so I said 'Yes' at once: and immediately I was taken at my word. ... I was told later that he had only come to the conclusion that I was not clever enough to go to the Bar. However that may be, the toy soldiers turned the current of my life.

A psychologist and then a diplomat.

Most days, I wanted to be Albrecht in the classical ballet Giselle, dancing until I dropped dead.

My buddy Kenny Laguna. He’s a person of extraordinary character, he’s intelligent, and a very good friend.

Amazing Grace, on bagpipes.

I don’t think I’d change anything: the bad forms you more than the good.

I had a cafeteria job, serving food, and some people were really nasty. There was a stack of nice, cool plates, and a stack of hotter plates that had just come out of the kitchen. So, if a person was an arsehole, I’d hand them a hot plate with a smile and watch them deal with it.

Right after 9/11, Kenny and I went to perform for the troops in Pakistan and Uzbekistan. As we were flying in, an electronic voice went off: “Warning: missile launch! Warning: missile launch!” The Taliban had fired a rocket at us. I was waiting to see the back of the plane blow up, but it didn’t and we landed.

That my baseball team, Baltimore Orioles, is always in the basement.