On the spot with Mark Stevens

What was your first job?

Pushing a trolley around as a cleaner in the passenger terminal at Manchester Airport during the 1985 French air-traffic control strikes when lots of people had been waiting to fly for more than 24 hours.

If you weren’t in your present post, what would you be doing?

I’ll have to whisper this... (probably still be a banker).

What was your worst mistake?

Very hard to choose just one. Mistakes are a good thing as you always learn more from mistakes than from success.

What’s your ideal day away from the office?

Eggs Benedict, followed by either a long walk in upper Nidderdale or watching my football team win, then a beer or two at the Old Bell, in Harrogate, and a nice meal out with my family.

Name one person you would like to have dinner with, and why?

My great-granddaughter – because I want to live to a very ripe old age.

What was your best subject at school?

Bit nerdy I’m afraid – maths.

What would you do if you won the Lotto?

Become Yorkshire Cancer Research’s biggest ever donor, spoil my family, and travel the world.

What’s your top time-saving tip?

Cure your email addiction by throwing your I-Phone or BlackBerry in the bin.

What’s the best thing about Yorkshire?

Too many things to choose from, but I’ll go for the honest way we communicate with each other.

What would you like to be your epitaph to be?

Mark did always say that you have to live each day as if it could be your last.