I love cars, always have done.  Right back from when I was a child and my brother got a Scalextric-type racing game – he had the red Ferrari because it was like Magnum’s, and I got the yellow Porsche.

It’s funny how TV shows (other than Top Gear, of course) sometimes have a car as another star. Most of us will remember Magnum’s Ferrari, the Dukes of Hazzard’s Dodge Charger, Knight Rider’s Pontiac Trans Am, Bergerac’s Triumph Roadster, Inspector Morse’s Jaguar, and more recently we had Gene Hunt uttering the immortal line ‘Fire Up the Quattro’ in Ashes to Ashes. 

I always wanted an open-top Jeep having seen Daisy Duke’s in the Dukes of Hazzard, but my dream car of the late 1980s was a Golf GTi Convertible.  I adored Golfs, but could never afford one so had to settle for a Polo instead.

I’ve named each of my cars, and my cars are always male.  My first was Henry, a Mini Cooper lookalike; I then moved onto Marco (VW Polo); I had an Ozzy (black car, purchased on a Sunday); a Scooby because the numberplate finished ‘DOO’; and I’ve now got a Jethro.

Yes, Jethro.  No, not after the Cornish comedian or the Beverly Hillbillies.  My Jethro is named after Leroy Jethro Gibbs of NCIS fame.  He’s handsome, and silver, so the name seemed fitting.  For those of you who don’t know to whom I’m referring, type Mark Harmon into Google, that’s the actor who plays Gibbs, you’ll see what I mean!