This much I know: Alan Hughes

My first paid job was as a train announcer in Heuston Station.

I think I liked being in front of a mic.

I have to disappear from Ireland AM when the panto is on.

But, in the weeks before we open, it’s very long days of breakfast TV then panto rehearsals. But I love it.

I believe in fate. I was already appearing in panto when I met my Karl.

He worked in advertising and had never even seen a panto. It’s incredible to see how our panto has grown into a huge success.

I enjoy being a public figure. There are a lot of advantages and privileges. The public reaction that Karl and I got to our wedding was simply overwhelming. We expected three or four photographers to be outside the church but it was a swarm of about 20 paparazzi and hundreds of well-wishers. People are generally so nice but sometimes they can intrude a little bit. For example, I was in a restaurant recently and a woman introduced herself as a fan... we’d a nice chat but then she asked if she could stay and join us as she was on her own...

I stress about all the things everyone stresses about ... money, the future, family.

The panto can be a big cause of stress. It costs an absolute fortune to stage, over €300,000, so if it’s not a good day at the box office, that’s stressful. Our fanbase is so loyal, though.

My earliest memory is wanting a red bike for Christmas and getting it on Christmas morning... I was three years old.

Directly after school I went to New York. I worked in a store called Soap Opera, like The Body Shop.

My boss was this glam lady who was best friends with the movie star Ali McGraw and they’d sometimes take me to broadway shows. That’s where I got the theatre bug.

I am an optimist. I try to believe that everything will be fine and come good in the end. It usually does.

I am lucky in that I’m generally home from TV3 by 11am. Karl works from home so we can go for lunch or a coffee. We get to spend a lot of the day together. For some people that might be too much but I miss him if he’s away in the recording studio.

The best advice I ever received was from a very young Karl. He told me to be myself on TV. Also, I’d advise anyone who wants to get into presenting to try and specialise in some area.... My best friend Derek Mooney found a little niche for himself as the go-to presenter where wildlife was concerned. Be it science, or history or even property, it can be a way into a programme as a regular contributor.

I am very health conscious. I eat very healthily and I go for a long, brisk walk every evening.

If I could change one thing in our society it would be that people could feel more valued. Especially vulnerable people like the elderly and the sick. I know I am privileged when I see how difficult life is for some people. The government needs to rectify this... people feel that they are slogging their guts out... and then life is made difficult by bad transport, lack of cheap child minding facilities and patients waiting on trollies in hospitals.

I don’t spend any great amount of time thinking about death. I think I do believe in an afterlife of sorts. Both my parents died within six months of each other when I was 10, and I definitely felt their presence on my wedding day. I try to be a good person and so whatever rewards or punishments come with death, I’m not at all fearful.

I do believe in God. I believe, just having a belief, can be very comforting to people. Organised religion is where I have problems.

Alan Hughes stars in The Cheerios Panto Sleeping Beauty at the Tivoli Theatre Dublin (www.panto.ie), with Niamh Kavanagh and John Lovett, until 5 January.