Every small boy wanted to be a steam engine driver when they grew up in the old days, including me. There's something very special about them - the noise, the smell, the steam coming out everywhere.

Paddington Bear was a refugee with a label - 'Please look after this bear. Thank you', and he had a little suitcase.

My daughter Karen was born in 1958, the year my first Paddington book came out, so she grew up with him.

I worked on 'Blue Peter' and 'Tonight' and lots of TV plays, filmed people like Rudolf Nureyev and Ted Heath, and ended up a senior cameraman with my own crew. I'd had my first short story published in 1947, and when my writing really started to take off I decided to go freelance, and eventually left the BBC in 1965.

I have a flat in Paris and go there a lot, but the Eurostar's much more civilised than flying.