Best business moment
When I received my very first order and realised it was not £250,000 but £2.5 million!
Favourite champagne
I don’t drink!
Favourite movies, TV shows
Fawlty Towers and Yes, Prime Minister. Hollywood westerns. I don’t watch too many Bollywood films, although I think they are great dancers, but a hot favourite is Dabangg
Books on your bedside
I find biographies inspiring. It’s inspiring to read how someone else has overcome difficulties to succeed
Your sleeping ritual
I like to spend a few quiet moments alone to give thanks to the Creator
Massage or workout to de-stress?
Both. I was a body-builder in my youth and that has stood me in good stead. I workout a couple of times a week
Your IT tools
BlackBerry, though I am fairly tech-challenged
Best gift received
Shoes that my wife Mohini buys me. For years I went about with aching toes until she identified the cause and presented me with a solution
Best gift given
Carpets from India make good gifts
Favourite cuisine
Indian, of course! That’s what I make in large quantities — a million Indian meals a day — for British supermarkets. But I love going out for a Lebanese meal, or Persian kebabs
Foods you like to shop for
Sauces, condiments, chocolates
Newspapers, TV channels and websites you prefer
The London Times, the Asian Age, Time. BBC, CNN, NDTV, PTV
Where do you like to sit when being driven?
The back. Not because of snobbery but because I can spread out my papers and respond to emails
On an aeroplane do you network, sleep or watch films and read?
Sleep!
Fancy coffee or masala tea?
Coffee
Can you cook? What?
I am a hobby cook. I cook meat or chicken, and experiment with marinades and cooking methods
You get your suits from...
Zegna. I also have them custom-made in Hong Kong and now Singapore
Your shaving mantra
I shave the old-fashioned way, using a brush and razor
Your favourite shoemaker
Zegna, Church’s, Prada
Your breakfast
A tall glass of juice that Mohini makes fresh
Your current set of wheels
Mercedes 500. I like Mercedes cars because the chassis is a good height and the seats very comfortable
In the car, sleep or cell?
It’s the cell for me in the car!
Your workday lunch
Soup or a sandwich, unless I am lunching out, which means a three-course meal
Your ideal holiday
Travel to an interesting city like Madrid, Barcelona or Istanbul. See historic sights, eat good food, walk around and return to a comfortable bed at night
At parties, do you like to talk turkey or make PC?
Conversations vary depending upon the crowd I find myself with
A few of your goddesses
Rita Hayworth, Virna Lisi, Elizabeth Taylor. Now the pantheon has expanded to include real-life heroines I have come in contact with through my Noon Foundation charitable trust
Alpha males you know
Politics and parliament, both in Britain and in India, is jostling with alpha males!
Your favourite motto
If you take no risk, you risk even more
Gulam K Noon, Chairman, Noon Group, and member of the UK House of Lords
