Allen, who recently published his autobiography No Shame, said his parents are from a generation that loved going out for a drive. “It didn’t matter where. Sometimes we went for miles to admire the countryside. Nowadays people just go to shopping centres.

“I’m a very nervous driver but calm down listening to the calming tones of Elaine Paige on Radio 2. When I first passed the test, I decided to drive myself around on tour. It took about 11 hours to get to Southport from Kent. I decided never to do that again.”

Pop star Luke Goss, one half of eighties boy band Bros, says his childhood memories of growing up in Lewisham involved a different form of transport. “There was no driving home for Christmas – my family took the bus everywhere. We weren’t especially well off and Christmas at home wasn’t the razzamataz it is for kids today.”

Goss, 53, now lives in Los Angeles and has carved out a successful career as a film actor, appearing in movies such as Paydirt and The Loss Adjuster. This Christmas he hopes to be driving in the Hollywood hills behind the wheel of his favourite motor.

“I love the Porsche 911 Carrera. I’ve owned eight of them. It was the car I bought when Bros became the youngest band ever to play at Wembley Stadium and we started to earn serious money.”

Goss suffered a serious back injury following a crash in Budapest, and rolled a car while filming Death Race in South Africa. “I’ll drop the roof down and have some good tunes on the sound system. The 911 is a car that makes you smile, which is all I need to be happy.”