What is your favourite place in Sussex?

I have two. North Laine in Brighton. I love the hippy counter-culture vibe.

And the log cabin at the end of my garden, home to all my artistic endeavour.

What do you most love about living in Sussex?

I moved here from 4 years in the outback of Andalucia.

I was practically whimpering at the Englishness of the county.

The village where I now live, Lindfield has a cricket pitch,a duck pond, old tudor houses.

Rupert Brooke wrote ‘Stands the church clock at quarter to three/and is there honey still for tea?’

He could have been talking about my village home in Sussex.

What advice would you give your 12-year-old self?

Don’t be so bloody stubborn. I ignored all the sensible advice I was ever given, knew I knew better.

I’d seen The Beatles live in 1963 when I was ten and that was me, life changed, mind made up.

I’ve been a struggling musician ever since - and it’s a long life!

What is your most valued possession?

My Martin 12 string guitar. Been with me since the early 70s. Written many a song on it.

It’s lived and loved. It looks like it’s battled Pete Townshend and lost.

I took it to be valued. The guitar expert declared it ‘worthless and priceless’ - not that I’d ever sell it.

What is your biggest regret?

I’ve had a few, but then again, selling my house in Golders Green, when me and Pat were first married. Worth a fortune now! We’ve always grown restless and sold up at the wrong time - typical musician behaviour.

What is your biggest fear?

Benjamin Franklin called life “a moderately interesting experience, with a badly-written third act”. I’ve just turned 65. Oo-er!

What is your proudest achievement?

When my musical, co-written with Robert Longden and produced by Cameron Mackintosh, was about to open in the West End, I emerged from the Tube at Oxford Street and the first bus that passed had the show on the side.

Then I turned the corner to the Piccadilly Theatre and there it was, up in lights: Moby Dick.

Which five people (living or dead) would you invite to your fantasy dinner party?

Paul McCartney and John Lennon, that’s a no brainer.

As a child of the 60s, they shaped, sustained and sabotaged my life.

Cameron Mackintosh, so I could ply him with wine and persuade him to put on Moby Dick again.

My father Peter Kaye who died far too young in ’88 and to whom I still talk, in my mind, every day.

Bob Mortimer, from my home town of Middlesbrough, because right now, I’m hooked on Gone Fishing.