As a child, I'd always liked cowboys and Indians stories where there were two layers - gruesome in the foreground but funny in the background.

I always liked spy stories.

As a father, I understand the importance of the bond that develops through reading picture books with your child.

The first things I remember drawing were battles - big sheets of paper covered in terrible scenes of carnage - though when you looked closely, there were little jokes and speech bubbles and odd things going on in the background.

Stories come to me in mysterious ways, more like dreams than reasoned creations.

Hector Elizondo and Adam Arkin were two guys I liked a lot.