This week, with MARTIN YATES, 32, chef and new landlord of The Fighting Cocks, Cliviger. Before moving back to this country when he was 16, he was brought up in Malawi.

MEMORY: Swimming in Lake Malawi as a child. The lake was the size of England and contained crocodiles and hippos. At the time I didn't really think about how dangerous it was. The lake used to provide Africa with much of its fish, but now a lot of it has dried-up.

HOME: The family home Sunnyhurst Woods -- named after the Darwen beauty spot -- in Balantyre, Malawi. It was a five-bedroom bungalow with six acres of garden and a verandah three to four times larger than a normal living-room.

CAR: I got an old Ford Sierra to pass my test in when we moved back to England. It was a real old banger.

HOLIDAY: Going to boarding school in England. I know it sounds strange but attending Beltham Grammar in Lancaster was like a holiday. Everything was so different. I had never seen snow till I was 11.

JOB: After attending catering college in Bolton I became commis chef at Eve's Hall, in Clitheroe. It was a hotel for civil servants.

RECORD: What is Love, by '80s pop star and bad hair aficionado Howard Jones.

LOVE: I fell in love with a girl called Julie at my first school, St Andrew's, in Malawi. It was puppy love, I suppose. I don't know what she's doing now.

MEAL COOKED: A roast for my family. I was 16 and we had moved back to England. I'd never done any cooking at school so it was a big deal.