Tony Robinson working on Time Team at Mont Orgueil. Picture: MATTHEW HOTTON (00964198)

Tony Robinson was born in Hackney in 1946 and made his stage debut when just 12 as the Artful Dodger in Oliver! After a career as a child actor, he got his big break as Baldrick in the TV comedy series Blackadder. He has presented Time Team for over a decade and was in the Island recently working on a programme for next year

What do you drive?
I drive a Range Rover. I am on my third Vogue on the trot. I was tempted to get a Range Rover Sport, but decided it would be a little bit pimped for me, so I went for the more sober Vogue diesel. It is carbon-offset.

I know there is a huge debate about whether that actually helps or works, but investing in a rainforest helps me to sleep a little easier at night. I used to have Jaguars, but the problem with having a saloon is that we do so much off-roading with Time Team that I could wind up being up to the axles in mud.

Or when there are hidden metal posts in the long grass, the low-slung Jaguar could end up speared like a harpooned tuna if you weren’t careful. The Range Rover is perfect for me. The great thing about the Range Rover is that you can drive it round town or on the motorway and the fuel bill is reasonable, and the mileage is pretty good.

It is also big enough to use as an office – in between filming I can get in the back with the lap-top and papers fanned out on the seats and get some work done. You can also get completely off-road. Even when other 4x4s have baulked, I am still motoring away, listening to the radio.

What was your first car?
A Triumph Herald. It was really reliable – a gorgeous car. The only problem with it was that if you just so much as touched a lamp-post, all the bodywork folded. And as it was my first car, at the time when I thought I was Stirling Moss, the bodywork took quite a battering over the first few years. Although it did have rubber bumpers, so if you bashed anyone front or back lightly, it was like being hit by a school eraser.

What was your best/worst car?
My worst was a Vauxhall Viva, because it was just so boring. As for the best, my years spent as a child actor had earned me about £800, so by the time I was 21 I used most of the money to buy a Mini Cooper. Those little sweethearts hopped round corners. If they saw one coming, they hopped up onto two wheels and bounced around panting like a little puppy and then landed on the other side, turned round and smiled in approval.

Are you a good driver?
Button, Robinson, Hamilton – in that order of great British drivers!

What do you always keep in your glovebox?
There’s always a pen, which constantly gets jammed between the lid of the box and the glovebox. Useless petrol receipts, A to Zs of various towns, which are too big for the compartment, so they are constantly folded and manky, a packet of headache pills with just one in, a half-full packet of tissues and several crushed tape boxes which have got some tunes I haven’t listened to for years.

What drives you mad behind the wheel?
Other drivers – that’s it. It’s my road.

What’s the best music to drive to?
I have always had a very catholic taste in music. I am just as likely to switch between Lily Allen, Charlie Parker and a Beethoven sonata. Nowadays I also tend to listen to a lot of audio CDs. I am currently working my way through Western Civilisation in 64 parts. It slows you down a bit. I don’t tend to tank along at 90 while wrestling with Nietsche.

Have you ever had a crash?
None that was my fault.

Who would be your perfect passenger?
Whoever it was, I wouldn’t want them to talk much. And never tell me when I’m wrong because I can work that out for myself.

What’s the craziest thing you have ever done in a car?
It was at 100 mph, but it was in the days before speed cameras and it was a birthday present. Further than that I will not go.

Who cleans your car?
The local car wash.