Paul Henry on first jobs and forgotten dreams

What is there to say about Paul Henry that he hasn’t already said himself? The headline-grabbing broadcaster has hosted everything from The Paul Henry Show on telly to radio show, Paul Henry.

Now, he’s back on screens as the host of The Traitors, a new reality series pegged as the ultimate game of suspicion and deception.

Favourite song

Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty. It’s the perfect Mustang road trip song.

Favourite movie

Love Actually… I mean there are so many movies that you could well argue are on a higher plane in so many ways but it’s about entertainment and Love Actually is very entertaining.

Favourite fragrance

F…ing Fabulous by Tom Ford. I also love that some retailers hid it from view or refused to stock it because it was visually so f…ing offensive… yay!

Favourite TV show

I was a big fan of Little Britain but my all-time favourite was The Fast Show with Paul Whitehouse. It was… brilliant! Almost as brilliant as Cheesy Peas.

Thing to buy at the supermarket

Whatever is close to hand to speed things up, but essentials are wine and HP sauce.

Person

Favourite well known, non-family member is… Billy Connolly… the father of stand-up, a band member with Gerry Rafferty and a dear friend.

Restaurant

The Fed Deli in Federal St in Auckland. The poutine and the pastrami and cheese bagel with sauerkraut and all the fixins! Just wonderful.

Book

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. Less than 200 pages and it will hold you in building suspense to the last page. The magic of theatre is alive and well in this book.

Podcast

Small Town Murder with James Pietragallo and Jimmie Whisman. Their descriptions of small town America are hilariously insightful.

Piece of art

I love art and have a lot of it, but if I could only choose one piece of my art – irrespective of value – it would be an original drawing of himself and Yoko by John Lennon.

Item of clothing

I am not big on clothing, but I have just had a yellow pair of swim shorts fall apart on me as a result of excessive over-wearing and I am still mourning their loss.

Destination

Palm Springs. If I can only choose one it just has to be this famously rich-in-history village at the foot of a mountain range in the California Desert.

Weekend ritual

What are weekends? Every day is a Friday in my life. Best day of the week Friday, and now it’s my Groundhog Day. (Also a good movie)

Job

At school in England, in careers class, when asked what I wanted to be I said, “a commercial fisherman, sir…” They had no pamphlets on that, so I was given a pamphlet on train driving.

I never realised my Deadliest Catch dream and I didn’t follow through with the train driving gig. I became a mail boy at the BBC. Being dyslexic was a stumbling block but I muddled through.