“I am a reporter on The One Show on BBC One, where we get audiences of up to six million. At Edinburgh, the space I play seats 350 people. I am 67, I have six grandchildren, I have been an MP and a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, I have books currently in print in 24 countries around the world; I don’t need this. But I’m doing it – for four weeks, with just one day off. Why? Because the Edinburgh Fringe changed my life.”