PETER Howes writes the angling column in The Gazette’s sports section.

He was born in London in 1943 as the youngest of four children. He had a very happy childhood, and an ordinary education, before he left school to work for British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) at London Airport.

After tiring of working in an office, he joined a rock band, and later settled down when he met his future wife Maureen. The couple got married in 1966 and moved to Basingstoke in 1968, where they have lived since.

Peter has two children, Christian and Laura, and five grandchildren.

Peter has now been retired for six years and his passion for angling takes up most of his time.

1. Who was your childhood hero and why? My dad. Whether good or bad, he said it as it was.

2. What is your most precious possession and why is it important to you? My Captain Morgan Cup medal, as the team I fished for beat some of the best in the country to get to the final on the River Bann in Northern Ireland, finishing third.

3. What was the first record/CD you bought? Rocking Through The Rye by Bill Haley and the Comets on a 78rpm record, much to my parents’ disapproval.

4. What is the radio/television show you hate to miss? Foyle’s War, Match of the Day, A Touch of Nostalgia and the best bits of football matches.

5. What is your favourite film? The Russian version of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace – full of fabulous photography and not a Hollywoodism in it.

6. What is your pet hate? Dog owners who let their pets foul the countryside.

7. What are you reading at the moment? The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations.

8. If you were choosing a last meal, what would it be? My mum’s pease pudding and faggots, or a bowl of jellied eels.

9. If you could meet anyone from history, who would it be? Oliver Cromwell. He brought a semblance of order to a corrupt and fragmented nation, and gave it a platform to become a world power again.

10. If you had a time machine where would it take you? 2050 to see if there was still freedom of speech in this country, or if the values that ordinary people had made a stand for in the past had been phased out.

11. If you were stranded on a desert island what luxury would you choose to have with you? A fishing rod, what else? And a photo of Maria Sharapova.

12. What sports team do you support? Arsenal FC – my team since the days of Joe Mercer.

13. What was your first job? A van boy working for the Evening News collecting papers from the railway stations.

14. If you could take over someone’s job for the day, whose job would you choose? Vince Cable’s, to show him how to sell the best postal service in the world at the proper price.

15. What worries you the most? The future for my children and grandchildren in view of the spiralling population in this country.

16. What is your proudest moment? Watching my son and daughter pick their way through the minefield of growing up and turning out as well-adjusted adults.

17. What would you like your epitaph to be? I didn’t do enough fishing.

18. What’s your guilty pleasure? Snacking without ’er indoors finding out.

19. What one thing could change society for the better? Honest politicians, unlike the ones who cheat the system, get caught, then have the brass neck to stand for re-election.

20. What three words best describe you? Cynical, nostalgic, helpful.