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Mum was the matriarch and the patriarch of the family.

Dad was a very gentle, sweet man.

Dad was the first man I fell in love with. He was a very funny man. He grew up in the East End of London and was very dynamic, and I understood why my mother fell in love with him.

Mum was an amazing parent and my best pal. The tragedy of it, really, was that she died from breast cancer just as I was becoming a man, aged 17, and we were just starting to speak as adults. She was snatched away, and it felt cruel. She made me laugh.

My mother was passionate. She was stubborn, the dominant one in the family. She dominated my father.

Mum was very cool. Even though she came from a pretty affluent family, she was cool. She was really good, a very normal person.

Mum was an absolutely determined woman. She was determined I would have a good education, and they went without all sorts of things to ensure it.

Mothers play an important role as the heart of the home, but this in no way lessens the equally important role fathers should play, as head of the home, in nurturing, training, and loving their children.

On the one hand, I've had such a normal upbringing with my mum, who has kept me grounded, but on the other, the wild experiences through my dad.