I made a series for ITV, just after I retired from Tests in 2009, called 'Flintoff Versus the World.' The idea was that I would attempt a series of extreme sports - rodeo riding, jumping out of aeroplanes, paragliding, cliff diving. I thought, 'Yeah, it looks fun. It's six weeks having a laugh.'
They're strange, the Aussies. Because if they like you, they say, 'Oh, he's an Aussie.' And I keep saying, 'I'm not, I'm from Preston.' There's nothing Australian about me. Don't start claiming me just because I've got a job over here.
The one thing we need to do to continue to maintain Test cricket as being special is cutting down the amount and make it a real occasion rather than playing one after another.
As a cricketer, I played on bravado and character. My personality was bound up with how I played the game.
There have always been two people jostling for control of my life, two totally opposite characters. The first one is super-confident, bulletproof, a showman, and an extrovert. He tries to make people laugh, messes about, gets into trouble, shrugs it off. The other character is withdrawn and reflective.
Some players like to practise right up to the start of play. But for me, whatever warming up I did was only going to be followed by cooling down again.
Cricket was deemed too posh where I came from, and I'd never have risked walking home through the estates in my whites. My club played some of the posh schools. I'd have the cheapest kit, but I loved those games. As soon as the posh lads opened their mouths and you heard their accents, the stakes were raised.
I've been offered all the usual, 'Strictly Come Dancing' and the like, but the one thing I know is that for me to be good, I've got to absolutely love doing something. And you can't dance the foxtrot half-hearted.
I have a Harley and a Bourget, which I enjoy taking into the countryside.
I like going down the pub with my mates and horse racing. I don't do anything that exciting.
If you're in a helicopter, and you hover, why does the Earth not come to you if it's round?
