THIS week, with Malcolm Smith, of the Independent Monitoring Board for prisons, who has been awarded an MBE.

MEMORY: A deep snow drift in the 1940s on the farm I was born on in Staining, near Blackpool. I remember we had to cut pathways across from the house to get the milk. At places it was like walking down a tunnel without a roof.

HOME: A country farm where I lived with my grandparents and my parents.

HOLIDAY: In Edinburgh, where three of my dad's sisters lived. My dad had six sisters and he was the youngest, and the only boy.

SCHOOL: Sheaf Street School, in Bolton. It was a small, friendly school.

TEACHERS: I remember two in particular -- Mrs Ainsworth and Miss Shawcross, who were both very nice.

HERO: Captain Robert Falcon Scott -- Scott of the Antarctic -- and Malcolm Campbell, the land speed and water speed record holder, who I suppose I began to notice because he had the same Christian name as me. I remember going to see one of Donald Campbell's Bluebird boats on display at the Olympia in Blackpool and being able to walk around it.

RECORD: The Best of Peter Sellers. I like his humour.

JOB: I went to sea as a boy and worked in the engine room. I've heard it said it puts an old man's head on a young man's shoulders. It brings you into the real world quite quickly.

CAR: A fairly reliable Humber Hawk. It was quite a big car with leather seats.