I'm such a picky eater that I've never even tried baked beans, avocado or tuna fish.

I also have a genuine and life-threatening mustard allergy so I am not a great person to go to a restaurant with.

My first paid 'writing' job was transcribing cassette tapes for a business journalist. I got paid per side for very slowly deciphering heavily accented men (it was always men) talking about the Polish stock exchange and venture capitalism in the South American emerging markets.

I've also been a barmaid, shop assistant, artist's model (with clothes on) and flipped burgers in a van at Wembley Stadium. I was sacked from all these jobs for a variety of reasons including daydreaming, talking to boys when I should have been serving customers and leading a staff rebellion against poor working conditions.

I was once so overcome with hysteria while doing a phone interview with my then crush object, Jarvis Cocker, that I had to invent an imaginary cat who was about to jump out of a second floor window so I could have a moment to gather myself.

I only ever wear Mac Ruby Woo lipstick and have done for over twenty years.

My mother was seriously considering the name Serena when she was pregnant with me. I do wonder if I might have been a calmer person if she had.

I added the extra r to my name when I was about 13 so people would stop pronouncing my name as Sarah, which didn’t work. Also, because I was a very pretentious teenager.

I've been banned for life from what was Horatio's Bar at the end of Palace Pier in Brighton for drunken karaoke shenanigans on my 21st birthday. It’s all on video, including me breaking a microphone and shouting "But it's my birthday!" over people trying to sing. The video is kept locked away!

I have a very weird obsession with odd numbers, except the number thirteen. I have only ever lived in odd numbered houses, when I’m travelling on the tube I’ll only go through odd numbered ticket barriers and on odd numbered escalators and would never, ever fly in an even-numbered seat on a plane.