When and how did you learn to use the internet?
I'm not very good to be honest. People get stuff up for me and I then I'll have a look. I'll go as far as using the mouse thing, but then I end up losing it and getting upset.
I do swing between a bit embarrassed about all of this and thinking I'm an old fuddy duddy, and the absolute opposition, thinking I'm very proud and luddite and standing up for the good old days of parchment and manuscripts.
Doing what I do, it's pretty inconceivable as a design business to not have the internet as a backup. So I rely on great staff and my wife to help me out.
When I do use the internet it's usually for work purposes, I'm looking at stuff for clients, or researching for books or television programmes.
I will have to knuckle down at some point and really get to grips with it but until I have to...
I think I should confess however, that part of my problem is that I can't actually type.
Are you a complete computer phobe?
Yes I suppose I am, but it's only down to the fact that I have people in my life who allow me to continue in that state and indulge me. I'm knocked sideways by how quickly my eight-year-old can use the internet.
My ten-year-old nearly brought a house over the internet. She was on line looking at country mansions, as you do.
Anyway she took a fancy to one with sixteen acres and several paddocks, and her finger was poised to buy it!! Luckily we caught her just in time.
In your own strange way how do you use the internet for work?
In your own strange way how do you use the internet for work?
I would say the principal use is sourcing specific interior products for clients. I use a lot of image searches like Getty's for source illustrations, and things like that.
I also look at things like the national federation of carpets, the design museum, oh and of course the odd lap dancer and camel tamer, of course I'm joking!
The Royal Academy, The Interior Design Association, Wallpaper magazine, The Royal Institute of British Architects are all sites that I peer at, for inspiration, information, all that jazz!
Did you have any input into design the websites for these projects?
I had complete input, but I refused to accept any of the constraints of it being a website. The sites had to be a beautiful object as if it was a flat pack, or a conventional page.
So I was definitely in complete artist control of both the Charmed (our shop in Cornwall) and my personal site's creation.
What do you think about people who look for love on line?
Well I think the main thing people have to remember is that it's like speed dating but you don't have the added benefit of being able to smell them.
It's also why I would recommend internet dating for anyone who looks unusual or has unusual ideas about having grown up fun.
So where have you been on so far for Holiday 2007?
The first Holiday programme was Cuba, and since then I've been to, Moscow, Istanbul, Monaco, and Brighton which was brilliant. Cancun, Fort Lauderdale, Llandudno which was an amazing programme.
I've got Jaipur coming up and a lovely family Christmas in New York to look forward to. Then we're off to Dallas, and Tokyo, and I'm hoping that the grand finale for 007, because let's face it it's got a bit of a James Bond slant to it, will be Birmingham, and no I'm not joking.
I've made it a key part of my governorship of the programme that where ever we go, we will find a glamourous, exciting, unusual stimulating time.
We had a fabulous time in Blackpool, and genuinely surprised people, and of course Llandudno, and when you see how fabulous it is you will question why you would bother to got anywhere else.
I feel very strongly that I can raise the bar and do Birmingham.
The other film I really loved doing was the Barbados, because it's a real insiders guide.
Everyone goes to Barbados and feels like that have to spend a ridiculous amount of money, and I give people the alternatives because I know Barbados really well.
Don't get me wrong, with all of the places we visit it is going to cost you to get there, what I'm trying to show people is that when you get there you don't have to be suicidal about money if you're a bit clever and stylish.
Any top travel tips?
I say to people make sure you don't sell yourself out when you get there.
Stay somewhere nice, if you go to a good hotel and you look really smart and you give that odour of glam, it's amazing what you can do in the upgrade stakes.
Never turn up to these places looking really scruffy it's about looking the part.
We did a bit about the 'Loveliness Law' in Monaco which forbids the juddering display of man breasts on the street and of course no sooner had I explained how wonderful the law was, the piece was ruined by a group of slouchy, pouchy stripped to the waist people, and of course they were British.
It's really frightening and it really upsets me. We've got no excuse!
If you look the part you get the service, the upgrades, the lot, that's basically it.
What else have you been working on?
Well I'm working on the Pitch Posh book, which is all about the fact that being posh isn't about money or class it's a very specific state of mind.
It's a beginners guide to being civilised.
In the book I talk about the internet and how wonderful it is shop for things that you don't want to be seen buying in public, like roll steel girders and Wellington boots.
Will we see you on a makeover show anytime soon?
I am working on an interiors project, which I would like to come back with. I've had about three years off from doing interior shows.
I know people have been selling houses but no one has really done interiors. I'm going to step back in with something fab!
