Terry Deary, 63, from County Durham, author of bestselling children's series Horrible Histories which arrives at the Theatre Royal in September

SATURDAYS tend to involve catching up on admin, paying bills and doing a bit of shopping. I get up first thing in the morning before the shops get busy and get the weekend joint in.

Saturday afternoon is football, usually. I used to be a season ticket holder at Sunderland – the only Premier League club in the region, can I point out? – but I'm so busy now I have to pick and choose my matches.

Their rivals, Newcastle, are having a few problems at the moment, aren't they? I'd love to buy Newcastle and put them where they belong: in the Conference!

On Sunday, I run all day. I drag my idle body out on an eight-mile run. I try to run at least 10 miles a week. I used to do the Great North Run. I did it 14 times but, on the 14th run, I suddenly felt very bored halfway round. It's a long, hard slog to the end and then you have to drive home and the traffic is solid.

Recently, I've started doing the Great North 10k. It starts at Sunderland's Stadium of Light, goes past where I used to live as a kid, then down to the sea front. I like that route; I think that could be my new Great North Run.

They do have a tradition of running into the sea on Boxing Day in Sunderland, but I don't really fancy that! On Sunday evening I go to Burnhope Working Men's Club. That's probably the highlight of my weekend. I go there with my son-in-law and have a pint of shandy and a game of snooker and catch up on all the gossip in the village. They do allow women in there now! When I first joined 20 years ago, they didn't let them in but they're all over the place now – except around the snooker table. I don't do any of this because I'm a traditionalist – it's just what I feel comfortable doing. I should probably move to London for the sake of my career. London's nice to visit, but I'm happy up in the North East.

I love all sorts of music. I was recently interviewed for Aled Jones' BBC radio show which looks back over your life in music. He's a smashing lad, Aled.

I enjoy contemporary folk music – people like Tom Paxton. I used to sing in folk clubs around the North East and his songs were among the ones I used to sing.

The folk scene was very strong when I was younger. I taught myself to play guitar and performed around the local clubs. It's come in useful now, because I write my own songs for the Horrible Histories BBC series and they appear on the CDs parents buy for their kids.

When I used to perform in Sunderland there was a young lad who sang around the clubs with me. I used to give him a lift. He sang contemporary rock and pop, but he was so brilliant nobody ever said, 'Get out of here!' He used to cover things like, 'Love the one you're with', most recently covered by Will Young.

One day he said, 'I'm off to London to be a pop star'. We all said, 'Fair enough. See you in six months'. Of course, we didn't – it was Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics.

Probably the last record I bought was Nickelback which is obviously quite different.

I need rock music with a strong beat to run to.

Occasionally, my wife Jenny and I will go and watch our daughter, Sara Burdess, who is an international event rider.

She rides alongside people like Zara Phillips.

I don't like seeing her live, though; I'm a bundle of nerves in case anything happens to her. We saw her ride at Burghley last year and I could hardly bear to watch. I prefer to watch her on the television. If you go to the events and you see the height of the fences, you think, 'That's impossible!' On TV, they look a little bit smaller.