Paul Heaton's perfect weekend

Singer-songwriter

, 48, is well known as a member of bands The Housemartins and The Beautiful South. He is currently touring as a solo act. He tells us why chilling out involves a bit of winding up.

It's Friday afternoon. What's on your mind?

Normally Friday afternoon is pretty quiet. I always feel that Friday is someone else's day. It's always felt like that since the big mouths and bullies used to claim it as their own at school.

Who normally has the pleasure of your company at the weekend?

My girlfriend Zena, my three daughters, two guinea pigs and two cats.

How do you prepare for a big night out?

I'm afraid my big nights out are limited these days!

What's your favourite party outfit?

I still haven't found a better chat up line than dressing up as a penguin. It gets people talking.

Youv'e just arrived at the bar. What's your first drink?

A pint of Banks's mild of course.

What is your favourite nightspot and why?

My own house on a Sunday evening. Chart run down, full volume, bottle of pop, crisps. Can you beat that?

What tune always gets you on the dance floor?

Jump Around by House of Pain

It's a sunny Saturday. What are you up to?

I'm cycling out from Manchester to the Peak District visiting pubs on the way with my trustee stead Ernest Lumley 4 (that's my bicycle's name).

What's your most memorable weekend ever and why?

As I get older every weekend becomes more pleasurable. Sheffield United might lose but the sun might shine. It may rain hard and long but somewhere, some place a flower grows.

What's the recipe for a perfect night in?

Let's be frank shall we? Peanuts, politics, company and beer. If the beer is cool and dashing and the peanuts salty and the correct temperature you only have to have the sweet hand of your loved one to reach perfection. But if the beer is warm, the peanuts bland and underhand then you need your loved one to tackle the faults of the world with you!

Favourite DVD? And what would you eat while watching it?

Free Willy (the trilogy) while eating egg and cress sandwiches with Golden Wonder cheese and onion crisps.

Sunday lunch - home-cooked or down the pub?

I don't have Sunday lunch. I come back from football and make a salad.

Where and how do you like to relax?

Strangely enough I relax by winding people up.

You've got a whole weekend off and a wad of money in your back pocket - which country or city would you head to?

Probably Washington DC, USA. I'd go into a local pub and ingratiate myself, before offering the sum of my wad to a local, to 'pop off' Clinton, Robert Gates or whoever you could get near.

* Paul Heaton's solo tour comes to Wolverhampton's Slade Rooms on Wednesday. Visit www.wolvescivic.co.uk for details and tickets.