'My market stall at a summer fete gave me the best ever views of York Minster'

The highly polished wooden floors of the Sunday School of the Ebenezer Methodist Chapel at Dudley Hill, Bradford, with my threepenny bit for the collection. My grandfather was a lay preacher there.

Most of my early memories are along the stretch of road from Dudley Hill to Birkenshaw, where my family lived from the early 1900s - my mother’s grandparents lived next door to my father’s grandparents on Tong Street.

What’s your favourite part of the county?

The area around Burnsall, with its meandering river, iconic bridge and pub. It was a childhood family favourite.

When my father died, my mother disposed of two guns he had, using the proceeds for the first of what became several all-family “Granny Gun Lunches”. My (large) family still talk fondly of lunching on the proceeds of Granny’s arms dealing.

What’s your idea of a perfect day, or a perfect weekend, out in Yorkshire?

Family brunch at Robinson’s on Bishopthorpe Road, then a short walk and pub lunch with friends, followed by a quick trip to watch Leeds United win the Premier League, then up the road to Headingley to see Yorkshire clinch the County Championship, back to York for a meal at Skosh, a film at City Screen before a final ride on the magic carpet back to Wheldrake.

Do you have a favourite view?

When my children were at the Minster School, I ran a stall at the summer fete which gave me the best ever view of York Minster. I could still stare at The Minster for hours. It changes every time I see it (and not just because they sometimes move the scaffolding round).

Which Yorkshire sportsperson, past or present, would you like to take for lunch?

My childhood hero, Geoffrey Boycott. I don’t think I would get a word in edgeways though.

Which Yorkshire stage or screen star, past or present, would you like to take for dinner?

If I can stretch Yorkshire’s boundaries a tiny bit, I’d like to invite Sheridan Smith (a Doncaster girl at heart, I think, though born just over the Lincolnshire border). Her talent and versatility is incredible – from straight acting roles to comedy and playing (and singing like) Cilla Black.

If you had to name your Yorkshire ‘hidden gem’, what would it be?

Martin House Children’s Hospice is ‘hidden’ in the sense that few of us ever need it, but any of us might do so.

Founded in 1987 (then only the second children’s hospice in the world) it is a safe haven for families of children with life-shortening conditions, yet it’s also a joyous place, run with clinical expertise, care and compassion.

We are just completing a £21.9m rebuild and refurbishment project so that Martin House will be fit for its second 40 years.

If you could choose something in Yorkshire to own for a day, what would it be?

I'm thinking that Castle Howard would be a great place for a party with a few hundred of my closest friends.

What do you think gives Yorkshire its unique identity?

The variety, from coast to dales, via moors and wolds, with picturesque villages, market towns and big cities – and northern humour.

Do you follow sport in the county, and if so, what?

In addition to Yorkshire cricket, I am addicted to Leeds United. Around 4.45pm most Saturdays, I vow to give up, but never quite manage it.

Do you have a favourite restaurant, or pub?

The wonderful Skosh in York. A national newspaper once advised its London readers in search of a good restaurant to jump on a train to York to try it. It would be well worth the trip.

Do you have a favourite food shop?

Field and Fawcett in York. It combines an excellent deli with the sort of wine shop in which you could lose yourself.

How do you think that Yorkshire has changed, for better or for worse, in the time that you’ve known it?

Leeds has become the dominant city. In my youth, there was little to choose between Leeds and Bradford. Both would really benefit from better transport infrastructure though.

Who is the Yorkshire person that you most admire?

Clair Holdsworth, the CEO of Martin House. I have had the privilege of working closely with Clair for the last six years as she has guided Martin House through lockdowns and then our very ambitious building project (‘The Build’).

I marvel at her mastery of building contracts, alongside her more obvious clinical expertise. She knows where every socket is supposed to go. I would not like to be a contractor trying to argue with her.

Has Yorkshire influenced your work?

I was hugely fortunate to attend Woodhouse Grove School, then Leeds University, and to have worked all my life in Leeds. Apart from the aberration of a year at law school in Chester, I have always lived and worked in Yorkshire, so it has shaped everything I do.

Name your favourite Yorkshire book/author/artist/CD/performer.

Am I allowed the group of performers who make up the Wellington Place choir in Leeds every Friday lunchtime? We sing anything from 60s classics to the current day. It’s one of the best things I ever do (and it’s open to anyone who can make it, for an hour at 12.30)

If a stranger to Yorkshire only had time to visit one place, where should it be?

It has to be York, which has something for everyone and has been a great place to live since Sue and I moved here in the late 1980s.

Martin House Children’s Hospice, based in Boston Spa, hospice provides specialist palliative care and support for children and young people with life-shortening conditions.