I just think our British cuisine and the different influences we pull together make it special when it comes to food.
— Dick Strawbridge
Nature is so phenomenal.
For a nation that spends a lot of time talking about the weather, we don't seem to realise just how much sunshine we actually get. Maybe that's because we tend to concentrate on the negative aspects.
When I started presenting 'Scrapheap Challenge,' I was rubbish at tuning V8 engines.
I left the Army in 2000 and went into industry before I started appearing on TV in 2003. My best job there was on a series called 'Crafty Tricks Of War' for the BBC. I loved that because it celebrated how clever and inventive people are and the ingenuity that goes into solving problems.
My old man used to say that I would argue the hind leg of a donkey. If I didn't agree with something, I wasn't prepared to accept it.
When I joined the Army in the late '70s, there was a real threat from Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, so all of the '80s, I was engaged in what could be classed as conventional operations - that involved digging lots of trenches in Germany.
I had an idyllic childhood with the freedom to go and play.
Life is all about energy and passion and living it.
I was still a serving officer when I competed in 'Scrapheap Challenge,' initially as a major and then a lieutenant-colonel when I was joined by my brothers in a team called 'Brothers in Arms.'
Who doesn't like playing with a railway? I think we've all got Thomas the Tank Engine in our blood.
I'm a very simple person.
I've spent 20 years in the Army, and I'm just so fiercely proud of being British.
All insulation takes energy to make it, but that is not a reason not to invest in it. The savings, for both the planet and the bank account, can be impressive.
All insulation is environmentally friendly. Some installation has better environmental credentials, but what matters is the energy it saves.
I love the whole idea of family and what gets left behind when you are gone. I'm very proud of my children; I was one of seven.
There was always laughter in our house. And I have great memories of my dad making an Ulster fry on a Saturday morning. They were legendary even though he couldn't really cook.
I was quite capable at school, but I spent a lot of time in detention.
Sadly, I have very vague memories of Burma. The family was forced to leave when the generals took over.
We forget the importance of engineering, but it's been used to design everything from St. Paul's Cathedral to The Shard.
For me, London seemed to be frantic without going anywhere.
Although I am the oldest with the biggest moustache, my brothers are progressively taller; I put it down to the extra potatoes they were able to eat after I left home.
When you work with people, you buy into it, you work together and you pull together. It doesn't matter what your challenge is: there's a sense of achievement at the end of it.
Cooking is about ingredients.
With a little bit of common sense, anything is achievable.
I could never work out how to shave my top lip without cutting myself.
My daughter, Charlotte Strawbridge, has recorded an album, and my favourite song from that is 'Empires Made Of Sand.'
I have always thought of myself as being Northern Irish because that's what I am.
My body was built through years of good food - and beer.
As one of seven children, our family life was full of energy and fun - we all knew how to laugh and work hard.
For over 20 years, I was in the Army, and it's given me a real love of history.
I passed the 11-plus and went up to the senior school, where my two older sisters had already gone. I was in the 'A' stream, but in the third year, they asked me to give up Latin; no one had ever got 7 per cent before.
I was captain of the rugby side at Shrivenham - as were my two brothers after me.
I love a challenge and a bit of fun.
