Under the microscope
CAN YOU RUN UP THE STAIRS?
YES, IT’S one of my fortes! I play a bit of five-a-side football twice a week and go cycling two or three times a week as well. Any time soon I’m going to have my stabilisers removed.
GET YOUR FIVE A DAY?
I GO through stages. Currently, I am looking after myself and my diet — much more so than I used to a couple of years ago when I don’t think I ate any vegetables, it was all fast food and microwave meals. But I’ve changed and want to be as fit as I can. Once you start eating sensibly and having a banana in the morning, you notice the difference in terms of your energy levels.
EVER DIETED?
ABOUT eight years ago, I went on the Atkins Diet because I was fat —16½ st at my worst (I’m 6ft). I lost 1½ st in three weeks. Amazing! I now weigh 15 st, but probably need to lose another half-stone.
COPE WELL WITH PAIN?
MY PAIN threshold is quite low, I can tell you. Whenever I go to the doctor and they give me an injection or a little local anaesthetic, I always ask for double the dosage. I’m a bit squeamish and dislike needles. I went to hospital once to hold a friend’s hand (she had a boil that needed lancing) — the doctor got a little scalpel out and the next thing I knew I woke up in bed with my friend fanning me with a newspaper.
WORST INJURY?
I BROKE my neck in a car accident in Sardinia about ten years ago. I was in a hire car in a foreign country, lost concentration and swerved to the wrong side of the road. The other driver was unharmed, but stupidly I wasn’t wearing a seat belt. The doctors didn’t know if I’d be able to walk again and that was frightening. A nurse flew out from Britain and I was lifted onto an aircraft with a crane — they had to take out the overhead lockers to fit me in. Luckily, the damage to my spinal cord was minimal and I was able to walk again within three or four weeks. I still get a little bit achy in my neck occasionally, and sometimes have pins and needles in my hand.
EVER BEEN DEPRESSED?
I THINK I was depressed in my 20s — I was restoring and selling cars and travelling a lot, four months a year. Oddly, travel is less joyous when you don’t know what you’re going to be or where your career is going. But since my 30s, my life has changed considerably. First, I got into property in the Nineties and began to enjoy buying and selling. Since then, I haven’t suffered from depression at all — I’m doing what I love. I meet such amazing people in the pawn business. A lot of famous people phone up and say: ‘James, please don’t tell anyone I’m calling!’ I say: ‘Your secret’s safe with me.’ And it is.
WHAT KEEPS YOU AWAKE?
I AM always awake at night and it’s to do with business, worrying: ‘Have I done that right? Have I messed that up?’ If you’re really passionate about what you do, you’re a perfectionist. But I switch the phone off by 10pm and watch something ridiculous, such as Judge Judy, and that helps me calm down.
BIGGEST PHOBIA?
AS WELL as needles, I don’t like heights or reptiles — and rats are the worst. The thought of being near a rat is just horrendous. I am not very manly in that respect.