I'm a military kid both parents in the military - Mom did 12 years Dad did 21 served in two wars. So discipline is something that was huge.

I feel connected to the Second World War because my father lost his father in that war. So through my dad and the effect it had on him of losing his father young I always felt connected to the war. It goes back years but it still feels to me as if we're completely living in it.

My dad said 'The thing that I was told that was really helpful was that I mustn't be afraid of the things I was afraid of when I was five years old'. The shock of his childhood had put him in this defensive crouch against the world and he needed to know that he had a nice wife and kids and it wasn't the same any more.

My dad was an absentee dad so it was always important to me that I was part of my daughter's life and she deserved two parents which is part of the rationale behind us staying married for 30 years.

My dad had this rock hard body and would work 12- to 13-hour days. The guys he worked with were scrap-iron guys. Nobody on that road crew had read a book in 10 years but there was something about the way they lived I really admired.

My dad liked a lot of Motown but I didn't listen to it until my teenage years.

My dad has been married to his wife for 15 years and wherever he goes there better be a seat for her. I like real couples that tell you how to get through on Wednesdays when you're just at the end of your rope - the ones who really know how to make it through. We have to stop looking at Hollywood couples because you're going to get disappointed.

The founder of the Mona Foundation actually knew my dad for years and the more I learned about it the more I realized I really found the perfect charity. It sponsors schools and educational initiatives all over the planet.

I am the granddaughter of a Welsh coal miner who was determined that his kids get out of the mines. My dad got his first job when he was six years old in a little village in Wales called Nantyffyllon cleaning bottles at the Colliers Arms.

My dad works in child protection and he's spent many many years in that line of work.

I have one brother John an airline pilot who is seven years younger. He's adopted though we're still blood related - he's my cousin. My parents couldn't have any more children after me so when Dad's brother died they adopted John then just a baby.

I'm not an American but I have this weird connection to America in different ways through my dad living here for five years my godfather being an American who I'm very close to.

I say this as a young dad seeing children going into primary school: I don't think we should underestimate the formative effect on a child of those first years in primary school.

When I moved out of London 13 years ago I found a whole other reason not to drive. This was because my new husband Dan unlike my dad did drive and this became a great source of fun and adventure.

The only day I remember of my parents' marriage was the day my dad walked out. As I stood there at five years old with my older sister and younger brother I knew that he was gone.

I came back from university thinking I knew all about politics and racism not knowing my dad had been one of the youngest-serving Labour councillors in the town and had refused to work in South Africa years ago because of the situation there. And he's never mentioned it - you just find out. That's a real man to me. A sleeping lion.

Well my dad was the district attorney of New Orleans for about 30 years.

My dad was the district attorney of New Orleans for about 30 years. And when he opened his campaign headquarters back in the early '70s when I was 5 years old my mother wanted me to play the national anthem. And they got an upright piano on the back of a flatbed truck and I played it.

Going to the theater is such a joyous experience. My dad would take my sister and me to plays when we were very young like six or seven years old.

I get that same queasy nervous thrilling feeling every time I go to work. That's never worn off since I was 12 years-old with my dad's 8-millimeter movie camera.

When I was about 12 years old back in Houston my Dad used to take us to the driving range.

My dad had a church of 90 people when I was born. It was just over the years it continued to grow.

When I was 18 I thought my father was pretty dumb. After a while when I got to be 21 I was amazed to find out how much he'd learned in three years.

The time not to become a father is eighteen years before a war.