Just listening to Nick Knowles rattle off everything he’s been doing, and plans to do, and thinks of doing, is exhausting.
And then the self-confessed workaholic drops in that he’s he just got back from filming in Peru, and that tomorrow he’s off to Vietnam and Malaysia to do some more.
The DIY SOS star recently turned 60 but that’s not going to slow him down.
However, one thing has made him reassess his work-life balance – his second chance at fatherhood with eight-year-old son Eddie.
Nick, who has three grown-up children from previous relationships, was 52 when he had Eddie with wife Jessica Moor, from whom he has since split.
The twice-divorced presenter says: “It’s the most difficult thing in modern life to weigh up the amount you work to improve their lifestyles versus missing your children grow up.
“I’m not sure I got that right with my older children, I was probably away too much. So I’m making a greater effort now with my eight-year-old.
“I’ve been away filming since August, but all the time I was away we had Zoom calls, saying hi, telling him where I was, sending pictures, him sending me messages as well, and seeing him as soon as I could, even though I’ve only had a few days back between each trip.
“Having said that, my older children are all doing great and are very happy. None of them want to go into TV, which is very sensible of them.”
But he’s determined to be more of a hands-on dad to Eddie – and for the first time in years he plans to pause his hectic schedule and spend Christmas with his loved ones, breaking his “tradition of eating Christmas dinner at a service station”.
Nick, who now has businesswoman girlfriend Katie Dadzie, 33, says: “Having an eight-year-old son at the age of 60 is the most wonderful thing in the world. It keeps you young, makes you see the world through new eyes.
“It reminds you of your own fascination with the world and all there is to see and do. We have a map of the world in his bedroom, and before bedtime we go through and he names four countries in each continent.
“I want him to know there’s a big world out there, to travel and meet people the way I have, because it gives you a much greater understanding of humankind.”
Nick grew up in Southall in West London, Mildenhall in Suffolk and Tunbridge Wells in Kent, and left school at 16 for a series of jobs including labouring on building sites.
After submitting a script to a BBC2 show he became a TV runner before working as a reporter for Television South on nightly show Coast to Coast. He got his big break in 1999 with the launch of home renovation show DIY SOS.
But after 32 series the BBC has not yet announced if it will commission a 33rd. “We’ll have to wait and see,” Nick says.
He is currently filming a new Channel 5 travel series, Amazing Railway Adventures with Nick Knowles, in which he takes some of the world’s most breathtaking train journeys.
He will still be away filming the rest of the series when the first episode, in the ancient Inca capital of Cusco in Peru, airs next week.
His 37-year TV career has also included games shows such as Who Dares Wins and Break The Safe, as well as finishing sixth in I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in 2018.
He says: “When I was 24 I used rugby to see the world. I’d arrive somewhere and wander into a rugby club, then someone would find me a job and somewhere to live. Now I’m 60, doing it all again, travelling and adventuring.
In Peru it was very high altitude so I was interested to test myself to see what I was capable at the age of 60. I was slightly smug that I managed to get through it all.
“I suppose in my head I’m still in my 40s. I’m not looking at slowing down anytime soon.”
- Amazing Railway Adventures with Nick Knowles, airs on Channel 5 on Friday 16 December at 8pm
