Brought up in Old Street Hackney by my nan until I was 11, I was surrounded by diverse history, architecture and people. My school said I was good at arts and crafts - my nan often said I was" artful and crafty" for pinching her cakes! From the age of 12 I worked full time on fruit & veg stalls around Hampstead, going to the old Spitalfields Market at   6am where the pubs were already open and the vagrants had a fire that people said had been going for over 100 years! I moved into my first flat share at 16 thanks to the Thomas Coram Foundation, est; 1739.