'Your career choices were unemployed or Australian': Dara Ó Briain

Ó Briain, 54, has hosted BBC shows including Robot Wars and Mock the Week and written children's science books. In the interview, part of the Dicey Topics series in which public figures answer questions based on a die roll, he spoke about money, religion and bodies.

He described growing up in a faded seaside resort outside Dublin, where his family turned the house into a bed-and-breakfast each summer, forcing the children to sleep on floors. He studied maths and theoretical physics and was eligible for Ireland's grant system. He recalled that in 1990s Ireland, the joke was that your career choices were unemployment or emigration to Australia. He earned extra money by winning debating competitions, getting 100 Irish pounds for best speaker or whatever.

On religion, Ó Briain said he found it easy to leave the Catholic Church as a teenager and shed it like a heavy coat. He attends Arsenal matches at Emirates Stadium, which he called his "cathedral" where he gives himself over to irrationality. He said he is not judgmental of religious people, seeing both positives and negatives.

On body image, he noted that the media is less rough on men than on women. He said that over his showbiz career, only one person has discussed his weight with him. He works out regularly, saying he wants to leave his 50s in a better state than he entered them. He described his superpower as having “Dara Ó Briain and his life of delights”.