ROGER Gardiner is the current Mayor of Basingstoke and Deane and a Conservative borough councillor for the Pamber and Silchester ward.

Cllr Gardiner was born in Reading and attended schools in Sonning and Wargrave before studying business at Reading Technical College and then going on to study economics and accounting at Hull University.

The 65-year-old moved to Pamber Heath in 1977 and, in 1980, joined Tally Limited as a chief accountant.

During his 22 years with the company, he saw it grow in size and eventually move to Basingstoke.

Cllr Gardiner took on the role of treasurer for the local Conservative Association and joined Pamber Heath Parish Council in 1991. The following year, he won his first seat on Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council in the Calleva ward.

In 1997, Cllr Gardiner met Tricia, who was the parish clerk of Pamber Heath Parish Council, and they married the following year at Basingstoke Register Office.

Cllr Gardiner is stepfather to Tricia's son and daughter from a previous marriage, and the couple have three grandchildren.

1. Who was your childhood hero and why? John F Kennedy, who promised so much and made everything seem possible.

2. What is your most precious possession and why is it important to you? My wife.

3. What was the first record/CD you bought? I can remember buying the Beatles’ LP A Hard Day’s Night – an album I still enjoy playing.

4. What is the radio/television show you hate to miss? I am missing so much at the moment but currently I am not missing the rerun of Edge of Darkness on BBC Four.

5. What is your favourite film? Love Actually.

6. What is your pet hate? Litter.

7. What are you reading at the moment? Shakespeare and the Countess by Chris Laoutaris. It is the history behind one woman’s success in blocking Shakespeare’s attempt to have a theatre in Blackfriars, resulting in a move to the south of the Thames and the building of the Globe.

8. If you were choosing a last meal, what would it be? My wife’s fish pie. It is to die for.

9. If you could meet anyone from history, who would it be? William Shakespeare. I am fascinated by the period, his creativity and commercial success.

10. If you had a time machine where would it take you? I would stay with Shakespeare and watch the lost plays.

11. If you were stranded on a desert island what luxury would you choose to have with you? The Basingstoke Symphony Orchestra.

12. What sports team do you support? Historically Reading but in practice Arsenal.

13. What was your first job? Leaving aside the paper round, my first paid employments were a part-time bookkeeper for a local builder while at college, a Christmas postie and a plastic moulding machine operator.

14. If you could take over someone’s job for the day, whose job would you choose? To run a successful beachside restaurant somewhere warm and sunny where staff do all the work and all I have to do is talk to customers.

15. What worries you the most? The cost of housing for my children and grandchildren.

16. What is your proudest moment? Seeing my stepdaughter graduate.

17. What would you like your epitaph to be? Cancel my meetings.

18. What’s your guilty pleasure? A pint of beer on a summer evening watching the closing overs of a game of cricket.

19. What one thing could change society for the better? A universal spirit of volunteering to help others, and tolerance.

20. What three words best describe you? Thoughtful, caring and infuriating.