Ok Noel Edmonds was the guest for One Final Question for the Radio Times this week and for anyone who hasn't read it yet I thought i'd post it here for anyone interested.

First things first; are you smarter than a ten-year old?

Noel: Horse yes; child no.

What about a nine-year-old

My daughter Alice is nine and she's brighter than every single brain in this place put together; she can solve all the wrold's problems. She came in to watch filming and was just falling about laughing at the questions, firing off the answers. I'm running at about 60 per cent accuarcy, so I would have been hopeless. But it has made me a demon in any pub quiz. I'm the person you want to have on your team because I can now tell you the names of Columbus's ships and lots of relatively trivial information, which I must have learnt when I was a kid and then forgot.

Were you a brainy ten-year-old

My dad was a head teacher and my mum taught in my primary school. I remember happy days at school and shining; I was in the top five in my class. Then I went to private school and was completely lost among a thousand boys.

Does it feel weird being head teacher on a quiz show when that was your dad's real job?

What is strange is that this show is airing almost exactly 40 years since I started as a primary-school teacher myself. I was hopeless as a teacher and I think I recognised that quite early on. It was quite a tough school I was at, and I found the lack of disipline rather a shock.

They say never work with kids, but you've made your career out of it...

I never had an issue about kids. I think one of the reasons swap shop was so successful was that we didn't look down on kids; we saw them as adults who just hadn't been around quite as long.

For years you had the TV Midas touch, then you dropped off out screens. What went wrong?

I didn't have an appetite to do telly for six years. I think I was very tired and a bit jaded. I had been doing Saturday-night television for nearly 20 years and I probably beeded a rest as much as the British public needed a rest from me really.

Yet now you're the king of game shows.

I'm filming loads more Deal or No Deal episodes I was having a few beers with my mate the other day and he said, "You work like you drive, full on or stop". I'm the luckiest guy in TV - to have two shows like this is quite something, and you only have to look around at how many of my colleagues have trouble having one hit show. This is a tough industry.

But you've had hit after hit. Do you have special powers for spotting a success?

I turned down Deal or No Deal twice, that's how smart I am. I don't have that special sniffy nose for a hit. I'm well aware how difficult it is to have hit shows and I've had one in each of my decades of work. Swap Shop was ground-breaking, Telly Addicts ran for 13 years, and as for House Party it amazes me how people now talk about it in reverential tones, bearing in mind how the critics had a go at it.

Did it hurt getting so much flak?

You would have to be thick-skinned not to be hurt by that, especially when you're trying you best and the people around you are ttrying their best. But I had the last laugh.

What about the excitable Mr Blobby? Is he living out his retirement with you?

I did have a Mr Blobby costume, but I threw it out because it started to smell terrible.

You've talked about your belief in cosmic ordering. What's on your cosmic shopping list today?

Pretty straightforward things. I carry a list with me all the time. One of the most important things, if you're into positive thought, is to always be grateful and express that gratitude. I do believe there is a bigger presence, and I have faith; whatever you want to call it your cosmos or your God doesn't really matter. I think the more gratitude you show, the bigger the opportunities and the more benefits you get. My life in the past few years been quite extraordinary; it keeps getting better and better. But you can't run out of things to ask for, so I want things for other people, like health and happiness for my daughters.

One final question: you've got a double bed in your dressing room. What are you getting up to between takes?

The producer, who's also my best mate on Deal or No Deal was asked what I would like in my dressing room. He said i'd like lapsang souchsong and earl grey teas, and then as a joke he said a double bed. I was hoping I had a far more interesting reputation. But he told them it was because I get tired very quickly.

This interview is taken from the current issue of Radio Times.

Thanks Mike!

Seeing as I never buy Radio Times, thanks for this!!!

Aw...the producer's now Noel's best mate!