'Family legend said I was pushed around the streets of York by Judi Dench as a baby - I'd love to know if it's true'

Undoubtedly, growing up in the York suburb of Clifton, playing cricket and football on Clifton Green with my friends. We were known as the Abbey Street Gang.

There were six of us and I’m still friendly with three of them. Clifton Green was by the church in Clifton where I was a member of the choir.

I played rugby league at my primary school, Park Grove, and when I went to Nunthorpe Grammar School, I started to play union, aged 11.

What is your favourite part of Yorkshire?

Certainly, the city of York is one. York is very much at the heart of who I am; born here, grew up here and educated here.

But if I had to pick one place it would be the White Horse in the Howardian Hills, just above Kilburn. I can remember climbing to the top, sitting down and looking at the lovely views.

What is your idea of a perfect day out in Yorkshire?

In the summer these days, it would be having a day at Easingwold Cricket Club, watching and talking about the match with ex-players of my generation and walking around the boundary edge.

In the winter, given my role, it would be visiting a different Yorkshire rugby club every weekend.

We’ve got 120 clubs, so I can’t get to them all, and the best thing is to go a game where a Yorkshire side is playing against another Yorkshire club.

What’s your favourite Yorkshire walk?

When I was younger, I’d go with my parents to the Dales and to the North York Moors, but my life changed when my wife, Janis, died in 2022.

So now I’m walking to raise money for the Janis Connell Fund and last year 10 of us walked part of the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain, and in three years we’ve raised £115,000.

Which Yorkshire sportsman or woman, past or present, would you like to take out for lunch?

It would have to be someone from cricket or rugby. I’m an admirer of Sir Geoffrey Boycott, but I would also like someone from a younger generation and that would be Joe Root, the England captain.

We’d discuss how things have changed in the game in Yorkshire.

Which Yorkshire stage or screen star would you like to take out for dinner?

There’s a back story to my choice of Dame Judi Dench, a York girl. After the Second World War, Judi’s father, a GP, was the doctor at the York Fire Brigade where my mother was the part-time PT instructress, keeping the fire fighters fit.

Family legend has it that Dr Dench occasionally brought his daughter to the fire station and that Judi would then take me in my pram and push me around the streets of York.

I desperately want to meet Dame Judi and ask her: is it true you pushed me, a bawling brat, around York when you were growing up?

If you could own something or somewhere in Yorkshire for the day, what would it be?

This is never going to happen, but the one thing I’d like to own is York railway station. Railways have always been an interest of mine, whether it’s the North York Moors Railway or the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway.

York has, I believe, the longest, curved platform in the UK and is next door to the National Railway Museum. The railways played such a significant part in York’s history in the 19th and 20th centuries and helped the city to prosper.

What do you think gives Yorkshire its unique identity?

It’s the geographical scale of the county. You have the Pennines, the Yorkshire coast etc and it stretches from the Tees to the Peak District, and the lifestyles are different in the separate parts of the county.

One thing that unites us is that we recognise that we are all Yorkshire folk. Apparently, there are 3.9 million acres of land in Yorkshire and that compares with 3.4 million letters in the Bible and hence we have the expression… God’s Own County.

What’s your Yorkshire hidden gem?

If I were to be pushed, I’d come back to York again and it’s the Snickle Ways, all the old, narrow passages which have been maintained, and when I’ve had visitors, I’ve taken them for walks around the Snickle Ways.

How would you say that Yorkshire has influenced your career?

Very much. It’s about hard work, grit and determination which are characteristics of Yorkshire.

I worked at Rowntree’s for 27 years and was a commercial director, and everything I learned there moulded me as I’ve continued to work in the food industry in the last 20 years.

Now, I own part of a bakery in Saltaire. We survived Covid and since then it has taken off.

Who is your favourite Yorkshire author/writer/artist/musician?

Alan Ayckbourn, the playwright. We used to go to the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough. His plays were funny and I’ve known for many years a lady in set design who made her reputation at the theatre in Scarborough where she worked on Ayckbourn’s plays.

Do you have a favourite restaurant or pub?

That’s easy because I know Tommy Banks. I like The Abbey Inn at Byland, The Black Swan at Oldstead and then there’s Roots in Marygate, York.

I’m not a big pub goer, but I favour The George in Easingwold. It’s in the Market Place. They serve some very good wine and the food is delicious.

If a stranger to Yorkshire had time to visit one place only, where would you take them?

We’d go to York and I’d show them all the familiar places such as the Minster. I’d talk about the history of the city, tell them about Guy Fawkes who was at St. Peter’s School, and we’d also have a nice lunch.