'Worry is a waste of BRAIN SPACE'

Lexicographer and Countdown star Susie Dent, 59, lives in Oxford

- ARIANA LONGSON

What are you like first thing in the morning?

There's a great word in the English dictionary, which is matutinal. It means bright and cheery in the morning. I'm not quite that, but I'm OK as long as it's not before 6.30, otherwise I'm a humgruffin and I barely get to the kettle.

What's your worst habit?

Finishing other people's sentences. I just don't wait, I don't allow the pauses, which is stupid really. I immediately think I know the word that they're searching for, which is incredibly arrogant, because quite often it's the wrong one!

If you were home alone, what would you do?

I'm quite a restless person so I will potter endlessly about the house with the radio on. If I really need to rest, then I will lie down on my bed, which is about the only place that I relax, and read. I'm reading The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt - her writing is just breathtaking.

Where or what makes you happy?