If I have time to myself. . . I go hill-walking, I read, I take my girlfriend for curries and I go and annoy my friends.

You wouldn't know it but I'm very good at. . .

spelling.

Movie heaven. . . is subtitles. I like oldish French films with subtitles. I also like ancient Marx Brothers films.

A book that changed me. . . 'Catch 22' by Joseph Heller and 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' by Hunter S Thompson (left).

When I was a child I wanted to be. . . a scientist. I think it was the white coat that attracted me.

All my money goes on. . . exotic carpets.

At night I dream of. . .

boring banal things. I think I use up all of my imaginative capacity when I'm writing so there's nothing else in the well when I return at night.

My biggest regret. . is not going a bit slower a few years ago in the Highlands when I rolled my 911.

If I wasn't me I'd like to be. . . a Jewish atheist.

It's not fashionable but I like. . . 'Goodbye to Love' by the Carpenters. And the idea of objective truth. We shouldn't let the powerful and the media barons and the politicians pull the wool over our eyes.

The soundtrack to my life. . . Led Zeppelin (below).

The best invention ever. . . the wheel. If not that then word processors and spell-checks.