Passions are what make a person alive. I have a wide range, covering all aspects of my life. Here are a few.

Aston Martin - http://www.astonmartin.com - makers of the finest cars in the world. I visited the factory when I was 15 and completely fell in love with the incredible capability and engineering that was being used. These people are passionate about what they do, and deserve to succeed. Now, with Ford's backing, their future looks strong.

For myself, I have a rare 1989 V8 Vantage X-pack - so thats 432bhp instead of 370bhp, the sports suspension, wide bore exhausts and so forth. He is a glorious thing who demands constant and expensive attention. For that, he goes to the maestros at Rikki Cann in Southend (http://www.rikkicann.com) who are the best I've ever met so far. Rikki isn't called "Dr Vantage" for nothing.

For cameras, I simply adore the engineering precision and mechanical beauty of Leica cameras (http://www.leica-cameras.com). They make the "plastic fantastic" efforts of others seem naive and flimsy by comparison.

In the area of pianos, there are endless battles between Steinway and Bosendorfer and the other master makers. For myself, it has to be Steinway (http://www.steinway.com/) - there is a special something about the American "Superfast" action from the early 20s which leaves all others for dead.

Places to shop: obviously, Waitrose is there for the daily items. Tescos in Sudbury is an abomination -- full of chavs and smelly people. Selfridges used to be good, but has gone downhill. Harrods is where its at now -- that Andre works there is nothing to do with my bias, of course!

On the mechanical front, watches by Breitling (http:/www.breitling.com) and Jaeger Le Coultre are my current favourites, though I do hanker after an IWC (http://www.iwc.ch).

As for my friends? Well, they know who they are...