‘The left-hand driving glove was madness – while the baby dream machine and the armchair that converted into a gym for older people made me laugh’

I was running a fairly successful telecoms business and had a phone call from the BBC saying that they’d like to come and chat. I was intrigued enough to say yes. I was late for our meeting and while he was waiting for me, Martyn Smith, the BBC’s producer, was watching people coming into my office saying: “What do you think of that? Should we do this?” He asked me, “What were those people doing?” I said: “Coming in and pitching ideas.” He said: “You’re not going to believe it …”