What was your first car?

It was a £500 beige original S reg Escort!

How many times did it take to pass your test?

It took me five goes! I passed in my driving instructor’s green Micra.

Who would be your ideal fantasy passenger and where would you go?

I’d choose Buzz Aldrin and I'd like to drive up to the very north of Scotland to give him the time to give me a blow by blow account of his time on the Apollo 11 mission.

The Northern Echo: WALKING ON THE MOON: Buzz Aldrin on the surface of the Moon

What is your dream car?

Cars are just to get you from A to B. I drive a Volvo and their strap line 'there are more important things in life than a Volvo; that's why you drive one' sums me up quite well! But then again, I'd quite like a Morris Minor convertible for pootling around the lanes of the Lake District on summer evenings.

How would you describe your driving style?

Careful without being a traffic hazard.

Tell me one driving anecdote from your past?

The Northern Echo:

Despite being a northerner I had never once been to Scotland until I was 21 and got lost driving the Newcastle University Students Union minibus in Northumberland and ended up over the border in Coldstream by mistake. I have been to Scotland many times since on purpose.

What are you listening to?

I'm always banging on about how I love Prefab Sprout, but it's true and so I am currently listening to Swoon, their first album because I've not listened to it for a while and because it is raw, intelligent and sublime.

The Northern Echo: PREFAB SPROUT: 1980s pop stars rehearsed in a garage in Witton Gilbert

What do you drive now?

A V-registered silver Volvo that has done nearly 230,000 miles - almost as far as Buzz Aldrin travelled to the moon!