You won’t BELIEVE what they tell me!

I visited a school recently and asked a little girl in the front row how old she thought I was. She guessed 100. Lesson learned! Dame Esther Rantzen, 77, reveals at a preview of Tanguera that she has discovered just how brutal children can be.

Because of my skin my mum wouldn’t let me go to the beach in the day. So when everyone else was out sunbathing I had to stay at home and read books. Nicole Kidman, right, reveals to me how tough it is being a pale beauty – although it paid off in the end!

I just don’t understand why so many of the Lords want to get in front of the cameras and be TV stars. They go for the more flamboyant ones, like Lord Palmer with his silver staircase, and then the public get the wrong end of the stick. Most of us are just quietly getting on with our job. Earl Howe may be the Deputy Leader of the House of Lords, but he hates the limelight.

Gene Wilder wrote me a letter after I interviewed him and said, “That’s the worst interview I have ever done.” When he died and people said what a lovely man he was, I thought, “Hmmm, well…” Frank Skinner has no doubts about the most difficult person he’s ever encountered.

When my daughter was really little she saw me do an autograph and said, “Oh I see, so they know you but you don’t know them.” That pretty much sums up my fame. Cold Feet star James Nesbitt confesses at the Mini Masters charity golf tournament that his children aren’t impressed by his celebrity.