He’s been the voice of Narnia’s Aslan, fought off kidnappers in Taken and sung his heart out in Les Miserables yet Liam Neeson admits that all too often, people mistake him for another actor. “I get mistaken for my pal Ralph Fiennes. I’ve been congratulated for my Hamlet on Broadway 14 years ago,” he reveals. The mix-up is evidently mutual, as he adds with a chuckle: “And he gets mistaken for me sometimes. We’d pass as brothers, you know.”

The 59-year-old, who was born in Northern Ireland but now lives in New York, has even signed an autograph as his Clash Of The Titans co-star rather than admit his real identity. “Once, my wife [the late Natasha Richardson] and I were walking through the Plaza Athenee, and this elderly couple got up and said, ‘Excuse me, my husband and I are visiting from America’. The lady grabbed one of these beautiful tea service menus and said, ‘Would you mind signing this for us?’” he recalls, his eyes twinkling. “I said, ‘It would be my absolute pleasure’. And as I’m about to sign it, she said, ‘We absolutely adored The English Patient’. So I signed it ‘With love, Ralph Fiennes’. I could not burst their bubble.”

Lose weight the easy way

Some people say Weightwatchers is a great way to lose weight. Others say Slimming World is the best way to drop a few clothes sizes. Yet more people will throw in their tuppence worth and tell you that in order to achieve your optimum physique you need a combination of diet and exercise.

I’d like to recommend a new weight loss regime that I’m currently seeking a patent for. It’s called the Public Transport.

All I ask is that you try public transport just once. I guarantee you’ll be so shocked by the cost that you’ll start walking or cycling instead.

I can’t divulge the exact science behind this revolutionary lifestyle model but I can assure you if you choose Public Transport you will lose pounds of some description.

Occasionally subscribers to Public Transport have been known to fall off the wagon and get into the car. However, the price of petrol and diesel will soon put paid to those indulgences.