LAUREN LAVERNE 30, is the presenter of BBC2’s The Culture Show. She lives in London with her husband, the television producer and DJ Graeme Fisher, and their one-year-old son, Fergus

* My parents told me they were rich, so I never had to worry about money. I only realised that wasn’t the case when I was older. Wealth makes you feel more comfortable with yourself; things come easier.

* You can’t be in a band at a better time than between 16 and 21 [when Laverne was lead singer of Kenickie]. That’s the time of first discovering the world is limitlessness.

* There’s a narcissism to insecurity. When you realise that you’re not the most important person in the world, being perfect doesn’t matter — you’re just one atom in the world. My nan brought up nine kids in a council flat; I know it’s a luxury to worry about the self.

* I’ve recently had a Newtonian moment, realising that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. If you’ve got the money, you shouldn’t buy £5 dresses. All my politics are in tune with that.

* When you have a child, you effectively jump off a cliff. But motherhood became much easier when I learnt not to try to control everything.

* Hedonism doesn’t just have to be about getting smashed and dancing on tables. It’s anything that gets you out of your head — you can find it in great art, or laughing with your friends until you think you’re going to be sick.

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