Picking up RAF pilots’ parachute packs and gear they dropped off in a pile.

I worked for a company that stripped an office, including the furniture, over one weekend – so I worked for 48 hours straight.

I’ve been lucky enough to act for 35 years. The only other job I had was as a cook at a drive-in restaurant, and I enjoyed that as well.

I worked in a petrol station on the A1 one summer. I enjoyed it except when I was on latrine duty.

The six Olympic gold medals, because at school I was never great at sport. When I look back on my career I think, how on Earth did that happen?

Those lactate sessions were the worst. I'd be in a lab on a turbo trainer and I'd do four 30-second efforts at 100% effort. It sounds so innocuous but the difference between 99% and 100% is huge. You can finish at 99% and you'll be hurting but if you push a tiny bit more – and that's the bit that makes the difference to your training – your legs just grind to a halt. It's like your engine is seizing up. My coach would unclip my feet and pull my leg over the saddle so I could just slide off onto a mat and curl up in a ball.

Max Levy, a German sprint cyclist who came second behind me a lot.

A road track car, a Porsche GT3. I’ve done the 24-hour race in Le Mans, which was a dream come true.

The London terror attack on 7/7 in 2005. I was in London the day before for the Olympic bid. When we won I thought, “I should stay over – it will be a great party tonight.” But I decided to go back to Manchester for training. Bombs went off on what would have been my route to the station.

Scotland’s rugby captain. My hero Gavin Hastings was captain when he came to our school for a training session when I was 10 or 11. I met him and was blown away.