A beautiful place to enjoy, used only as a backdrop to promote pretend lives to pretend friends. Sometimes, I’m so glad I’m not young anymore. 

Some kids grow up wanting to be a fireman or an astronaut. I wanted to be a bagpipe. One of my brothers wanted to be a sheep so maybe there was something in the water. At least my ambition was (almost) musical.

I was very sad recently to hear of the death of one of my favourite arrangers, David Carter. You may not know the name but you will have heard his work. He was one of the first arrangers I worked with, back in the early 90s. I didn't know anyone who could give me a recommendation, so I looked through the small ads in the back of the Stage newspaper and there he was.

Do you like Valentine’s? For me, the expectation of having to do something special somehow makes it less special. Regardless, if you fancy a romantic ballad, here’s my studio recording of If Ever I Would Leave You.

It’s been my pleasure to spend a week teaching cabaret to the musical theatre students from the Guildford School of Acting. I think this is the only course of its kind in the UK and I’m delighted to be a part of it.

I was recently asked to sing at New York’s Carnegie Hall but had to say no because I was already booked for a cruise ship. Ouch. It’s one of the few places I would really like to work. I could have begged the cruise line to let me off, but over the years I’ve learned the importance of honouring commitments and not letting people down. 

I am on a five day photography course this week in India. The teacher is Martin Parr, which is like having tennis lessons from Andre Agassi or practising your three-point-turn with Lewis Hamilton. I love Parr’s work. It’s enlightening, life-affirming and often, very funny. 

Peggy Lee once admitted that she doesn’t use most of her voice but what she has used has served her well. There’s an understatement. My pal Jon Nickoll introduced me to a little known album of hers called Sea Shells. Here, Peggy Lee begs our indulgence in a very personal song cycle, a sort of meditation on life and the passing of time.

There are two main routes into cabaret: musical theatre and singing in bars or piano lounges. Each requires their own skill set but for a successful transition into cabaret, some of those hard-earned skills will need to be left in the wings.

What songs instantly make you smile? I bet most of them take you back to your teenage years. My list includes Jason and Kylie’s ‘Especially for You’ (I skipped school to watch the wedding), Sinatra’s ‘Nice n Easy’ and the theme from Trumpton. For Jean Pyle, an 87 year-old living with dementia, it’s ‘I Love You Because’. Seeing her face light up on hearing it is a beautiful moment and a testimony to the power of music.

One of my favourite movies is The Talented Mr Ripley. It’s a great thriller with superb acting and direction. I’m very drawn to the lead character, Tom Ripley. He is bright, well read, plays the piano, loves art and appreciates culture. All things I aspire to be. He’s also ruthless psychopath, which I try not to be.

What was the first record you bought? People my age usually say something cool like Led Zeppelin or The Who. Mine was "Puttin’ on the Ritz" by the Pasadena Roof Orchestra. By the time I was eight I knew all the words to ”Yes, Sir! That’s My Baby" and could whistle perfectly the middle eight of "There’s a Rainbow ‘Round My Shoulder".

As a Sinatra guy, My Way has been my go-to encore, pretty much since I started singing. It ticks all the boxes: it’s emotive, dramatic and very popular. Too popular, as it happens.

I love the way the Spanish deal with age. Instead of asking "How old are you?" they ask "How many years do you have?" which us much nicer, don’t you think?

It was the highlight of my year. A chance to see one of my childhood hero’s close-up. When most eighteen year-olds in the late 80s wanted to see sexy, chart-toppers Duran Duran, I wanted to hear a talk by Chancellor of the Exchequer for Margaret Thatcher, Nigel Lawson.

I nearly died a few years ago, alone in a cheap hotel room in Florida. I’d scoffed half a bag of Trail Mix before realising I was having an allergic reaction to the hazelnuts. My throat felt as though it was slowly closing up and within a few minutes I could hardly breath. Being English and not wanting to make a fuss and didn’t call for a doctor, I had a glass of water and kept my fingers crossed. It passed and here I am.

This week, 11 years ago, I was on board the QE2 for her last sailing into Southampton. With the world’s media on standby for her historic return, she ran aground on the sandbanks in the Solent. Whoops.

It was the early 90s and I was playing Billy Bigelow in an amateur production of Carousel. It was the dream scene towards the end of the show where the chorus sings You’ll Never Walk Alone and I had to walk across the stage in slow-motion, like Steve Austin in the opening credits of the Bionic Man…

I make my living entertaining people. I basically get paid to show-off and when I’ve finished everybody gives me a round of applause (except for that time in Clacton, but we don’t talk about that). You’d probably peg me as an extrovert and that’s how I’ve always thought of myself. And yet, since my 20s, I’ve continually found myself struggling to cope in groups, often preferring my own company and craving ‘quiet time’.

What none of the film crew realised, is that almost everyone likes black pepper on their pizza. So, while the strings quivered and I crooned about broken hearts and moonbeams, all you actually heard was "crunch, crunch, crunch" as another pizza was peppered to perfection.