When I was 17 I took on a class of six-year-olds for a week. When the Angelus rang at noon, they stood up in silence and I realised I was supposed to recite the prayer, which I did not know. I said: “There will be no Angelus today because of that child fidgeting at the back.”

I used to do silver service waitressing at parties and events. The job was great, but there was constant harassment and groping from older men, and I hadn’t found my voice yet. It’s terrifying when you are young and you need a job.

Scooping ice cream is tougher than it looks. … Rows and rows of rock-hard ice cream can be brutal on the wrists. … I was less interested in what the job meant for my future and more concerned about what it meant for my jump shot.

Cleaning toilets in a hotel in Croydon when I was 16. A guest once gave me a half-eaten bag of pistachios as a tip, so there were perks.

A mechanic when I was a little kid, and then, when I came to the UK, I wanted to play professional football.

When I was a kid, travelling from Ethiopia to the UK, the plane door opened, the oxygen masks came down and the plane did an emergency landing in Egypt.

Beijing 2008 – not making the Olympic final.

Being dad to my kids and having a family.

Probably my wife, because sometimes I do crazy things.