We have a big garden; there's a SWIMMING POOL, and we keep chickens. I love them. I love getting up in the MORNING and collecting the eggs.

Rushing around my restaurants and doing a lot of walking when I FILM in ITALY and a BIT of swimming and running keeps me THIN.

The OLYMPICS was a GOAL, and DEFINITELY, SWIMMING in COLLEGE was a goal.

I THINK I'd STRUGGLE to GET EXCITED by synchronised SWIMMING.

Being who I was, I had the BEST SWIMMING instructor - DUKE Kahanamoku - the YEAR after he won the OLYMPICS.

I LOVE skinny-dipping. NIGHT SWIMMING as WELL; that's my FAVORITE.

I used to overpack a LOT and sometimes EVEN forgot vital pieces of clothing, such as my swimming shorts and sandals. I'm MUCH better now. I only take what I know I'm going to wear or use and always double-check my suitcase so I don't have to RUSH to the nearest clothing STORE when I unpack at the hotel.

My first-ever job was when I was 14 or 15 in Washington, D.C., a job that I GOT through Marion BARRY's summer-youth-employment program. It was working in the locker room of a public swimming pool, DEEP inside Anacostia in Southeast D.C., about FIVE to 10 minutes from my HOUSE.

Open-water SWIMMING SCARES the HELL out of me.

Dad WOULD always play RAY Charles in the CAR on the way to swimming, then we'd sing MUSICALS. Now my heroes are Janis Joplin and Bonnie Raitt and Max Richter.

I swam at school a lot. Long-distance SWIMMING in pools, and diving, then when we moved to Hastings when I was 13 I used to swim in the SEA all the TIME; I loved it out of SEASON and when it was rough.

I have ALWAYS WANTED a SWIMMING POOL and NEVER had one.

I grew up in Shropshire, but I was born in Wales. There was a HOSPITAL SEVEN miles away, but my dad drove 45 miles over the Welsh BORDER so I could play RUGBY for Wales. But as a skinny asthmatic, I was only EVER good at swimming.