NAGA MUNCHETTY

The Strictly star and BBC Breakfast host, 41, in the living room at her Hertfordshire home

1 COOL CATS I moved to this house six years ago with my husband James Haggar, a TV director, and if I’m not away working I’ll be curled up on this sofa most nights watching TV and stroking my two Siamese cats, Kinky and Ronnie. I was born and bred in south London, so living in Hertfordshire is a big change and I love it. I can look out of the window and see nothing but fields and I feel very safe here. I wanted a dog, but it wouldn’t fit our lifestyle, so we got the cats and they’re our pride and joy.

2 ART’S DESIRE For our tenth wedding anniversary in 2014, James and I asked our friend Kimberly Hunt, the assistant editor at BBC Breakfast, to make something special for us. She’s incredibly creative and she designed this ‘J &N’ out of sew-on and pin-on metal badges, which represent things that connect James and me such as golf, hiking and theatre. I gave her a couple of badges we’d picked up too. It’s a remarkable piece of art that beautifully reflects our life together.

3 BOOKWORM This is my Penguin edition of Wuthering Heights from when I was doing English A-level. I was 16 and I thought it would be laborious and dull, but it was a real eye-opener. It’s a raw, mean love story full of passion and I absolutely devoured it. I still read it once every couple of years and this edition is littered with my notes in red Biro, which are fun to read all these years later. I ended up getting an A grade. Reading is a big love in my life and our study is rammed with at least 300 books.

4 MY CUE FOR LOVE My first date with James was at a pool hall. We love snooker and pool and this is one of the cues for our snooker table – it’s three-quarter-sized with grey baize, which is a bit more stylish than green. Then about eight years ago James convinced me to take up golf. Now I’m addicted and play five or six times a week – those are my golf shoes on the floor and on the table are my trophies. I was thrilled to be asked to do Strictly, but I had to think long and hard because it meant golf would have to take a back seat.

5 MUM’S MENU I wasn’t interested in cooking when I was younger, then about 12 years ago my parents came to live with us while their bungalow was being renovated. It was meant to be for three weeks, but they ended up staying six months! Mum’s from India and Dad’s from Mauritius – that’s me and Mum in the picture – and I suggested that she teach me one Indian recipe a week. I learnt about 30, and typed up my notes and put them in this folder. I could eat her kidney bean curry every day.

6 OLD JOANNA I learnt piano and trumpet from the age of ten to 18 and played in school orchestras and jazz bands in my teens. Mum and Dad bought a piano for me and my sister when I was nine, which was a massive stretch for them financially. I kept it and it’s now in our dining room – it’s an old upright and still has a lovely sound. This is my sheet music and I try to play a couple of times a week, some Rachmaninoff or Dvorak, but I get frustrated because I’m not as good as I used to be. As told to Rob McGibbon. Naga presents BBC Breakfast, weekdays at 6am, and Sunday Morning Live, Sundays at 10am, on BBC1. Strictly is on BBC1 tonight at 6.20pm and tomorrow at 7.15pm.