What are you like in a relationship? are you a giver or a taker?

Perhaps you should ask my wife about this. Hopefully, she'd say that I'm a bit of both. Certainly, she puts up with a lot. I work for the News Letter at nights and then am up early for U105 every morning, so during the week we don't see much of each other. But she is very supportive and gives me 100% backing. And I do try to be everything that a husband should be - I take marriage seriously.

Helen and I first met when she was 13 and I was 18, but initially she didn't like me and I didn't like her. Basically, she thought I was a cheeky slabber. We met up a few times over the years but it wasn't until Helen was 23 that we started going out together. Hopefully, she has now changed her mind about me ... Helen is a great girl and has really changed my life for the better. She is a classroom assistant at Ceara special needs school in Lurgan. She loves it and does a great job there, though it can be hard work at times. I go to their formal every year.

What would Helen say are my worst qualities? Probably that I'm laidback and very easygoing. She'd probably like there to be a bit more get up and go about me. Oh, and she thinks I'm not much use at housework.

My best qualities? I make her laugh. Hopefully, she also finds me very attractive and sexy.

How do I get on with Maurice Jay? Very well. I remember when he was coming to work at Citybeat, where I was already doing shifts. There were reports that he was a bit of an egomaniac, but once I met him I realised that was not the case at all. Now, we're really good friends and we would socialise a lot outside of work. Yes, we give each other a hard time on air, but there is no animosity. We don't take the jibes too seriously - and the other member of our team, (Lindy McDowell, the Belfast Telegraph columnist) is the same.

She has really entered into the spirit of it all, and is great fun. After the show, we all go for breakfast together.

ONLY CHILD OR ONE OF A CROWD

I'm the middle one of three. Darren is 37 and is a sportswriter for the Daily Mirror. Perhaps I'm biased, but I think he's rather good.

Gareth is 29 and works for the News Letter.

All three of us do the same kind of work, but then we were always interested in sport and played a lot of it when we were younger.

And, yes, the fact that our dad Jackie is a sports broadcaster probably did play a part in our future careers, not least because we saw how much he enjoyed his work. We all used to go with him to football matches. Mind you, mum is a bit annoyed that none of us followed in her footsteps to become a schoolteacher.

Myself, Darren and Gareth are all married now, and we're still close. I know they'd do anything for me, and I'd do the same for them.

Darren has twins, Jack and Erin, who are nine. They're great - they've added another dimension to our family. But they are so different. Helen and I were on holiday in Dubai last year and when we came back I told Jack and Erin that I had brought them back a live camel from the desert. Jack was really excited, but Erin just gave me a withering look. Then, at Gareth's wedding, shortly after I arrived, I said to Erin: "You and I will have a little dance together later." She gave me that look again and said: " Uncle Nicky, please stop embarrassing me."

ARE YOU CLOSER TO YOUR MUM OR DAD

I'm close to the two of them. I suppose when we were two, three or four years old we were all closer to mum. She was a primary school teacher and was always there to look after us. Dad's work meant that he was often working nights and by the time he got home we would be in bed. Mum is also the one who lays down the law in our house.

Obviously, when dad needed a heart bypass a couple of years ago it was a big shock to all of us. When you are young you tend to think that grandparents and parents are immortal, and then it dawns on you that they are not. Just after he had surgery I went in to see him in intensive care, and I'll never forget that first glimpse of him - it really hit home just how serious things were. Thankfully, he has made a good recovery - and he has given up his cigarette habit, too.

What was it like growing up with a father in the public eye? Funny and bizarre at times. To us he was always just dad, but then whenever we went somewhere with him, it would strike me that he seemed to have loads of friends - everybody would be saying: "Hello Jackie." As I got older, I realised he was doing a job that meant everyone knew him. But people who mentioned dad to us always tended to be complimentary about him. You'd get some gentle ribbing - people would imitate his voice, but they would do it in an affectionate manner. Like us, dad liked playing sport when he was younger. He played football for Ballymena, Derry City, Cliftonville and Crusaders. He also played cricket for Ballymena. He wasn't a bad sportsman, but - how would you put it? - he was not a world beater.

I also believe he wasn't the bravest footballer. At Crusaders he was called the magician, but I'm told it wasn't for his trickery on the ball - rather every time there was a tackle he would disappear.

What do I think of his singing? I'm going to have to say that I like it. Dad is not a bad singer, and he really enjoys it. In our family, we have an in-joke with dad that he is always finding new ways to embarrass us. We joke about a lot of things - when he was coming round from his surgery in hospital we told him that we'd just been about to cash in his life insurance.

Mum never really wanted to be in the public eye - she and dad are very different like that.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?

I'm proud that I'm still married after a year and a bit - that's a joke! I'm proud that Helen agreed to marry me - seeing her walk down the aisle was one of my proudest moments. I also take pride in things like doing a good job, but I'm not really what you would call a proud person.

Oh, and I'm also proud that though I failed my 11-plus, I went on to go to Queen's University, Belfast, where I did a degree in modern history. And do you know what? I couldn't tell you a thing about it now. The only thing I can remember is that in history you cannot be 100% wrong because they cannot be 100% sure what exactly happened since they were not there.

I really enjoyed my time at university, and then afterwards I did a diploma in journalism. Perhaps, with hindsight, I wish I studied something more vocational at Queen's, but ... I went on to do work experience for a number of papers, including the Ireland's Saturday Night, then moved into radio as well.

I'd known Stephen Nolan from my days at university, and he was working on Citybeat. He told me they needed some news journalists there, so I started doing some shifts, then moved to sport.

Nolan is a good guy - very professional and hardworking. He was always determined to do well and puts a lot of effort into his work. He really deserves his success.

Last November, I started at U105 on the breakfast show. I usually work from about 5pm to midnight on the paper, and then I'm back in U105 at 6.30am, so it's tough, but enjoyable.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST ASHAMED OF?

Over the last couple of years I have put on quite a lot of weight. I'm 6ft 2in tall and now weight 17st 8lbs. I was just over 15st when I started going out with Helen. I used to play a lot of sport, but when I stopped, the weight crept on slowly but surely.

Now, I'm eating sensibly and exercising as part of a sponsored slimathon for Meningitis Research.

I'm determined to take it off. I hate when I bump into people that I haven't seen for a long time and they go: "Look at the size of you, mate!"

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO A FORTUNE-TELLER?

When I was 23, I worked in London for nine months in advertising sales, and one day a few of us went to this crystal ball reader for a bit of a laugh.

I have to say at the outset that I don't believe in it - if they really can tell the future, then give me the winner of the 3.10 at Haydock so I can stick £1,000 on it.

Anyway, this person told me that I would be thin, good-looking and successful by the time I was 30, so I think we can safely say she was a bit out.

I don't believe in any of it - palm-reading, horoscopes, whatever - but if other people get something out of it and it makes life a bit happier for them, then so be it.

I wouldn't say that I was superstitious either, although I never played rugby with my socks up because I'd once been injured doing that. Then, I was injured when I played with them down, but I kept playing with them down. I'd put the whole thing down to stupidity, not superstition.

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO A LAPDANCING CLUB?

In my 33 years I have been to lapdancing clubs twice. On both occasions, it was a stag do. The first time was in London and the second, in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. I really don't know what the fuss is about - I thought it was a waste of time. I didn't find it exciting, just rather strange and bizarre. I mean, if you went to a beach in Ibiza you would see just as much flesh. It didn't appeal to me at all, but they obviously do business.

Oddly enough, when I went to the one in London with a group of mates, the first guy I met in there was the brother of one of my best mates. He had a lot of questions to answer ...

HAVE YOU ANY PHOBIAS?

I'm scared of heights and wouldn't want to stand at the top of a tall building. Nor can I look up at a tall building - I'm convinced it is going to fall on me.

And when I was a child I had this weird fear that if I was swimming in the sea, a submarine would appear beside me.

I don't mind flying, although I usually say a five second prayer at take-off and landing.

DO YOU TIP IN RESTAURANTS?

Yes, I do, no matter what. I'm a big softie. Even if my food is burnt to a crisp or it takes two hours just to get a menu, I'm not the sort of person to complain. When I was a student I worked as a waiter in a hotel outside Ballymena, and also as a barman in McSwiggan's in the town, so I know how hard that type of work can be.

If you didn't tip you'd hate to think they were talking about you when you left.

Having said all that, I do think the service in some places here could be better. As I said, we were in Dubai last year and it's incredible there.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN GOD?

I do. I was brought up a Methodist and went to Sunday School and the Boys' Brigade, both of which I enjoyed. I'm not a regular churchgoer at the moment, but I do believe in heaven and hell.

Nor was I married in a church. We wed at Upton Castle, just outside Templepatrick, although the service was conducted by my dad's uncle Robert, who is a minister with the Presbyterian church in Scotland. He'd also married mum and dad. It was a really nice day - very relaxed.

Darren got married in St Lucia and Gareth, at St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast.

And, no, I don't recall dad singing at any of our weddings. We didn't ask him to and he doesn't push himself forward at things like that.

QUICK DEATH OR TIME TO PREPARE?

I'd just like to go to bed at night and not wake up. Having said that, I don't think either choice is that good ...

I wouldn't say that I was afraid of death, but as I get older and it looms larger on the horizon, I will probably be more nervous. I just hope that I head in the right direction.

REGRETS ... HAVE YOU HAD A FEW?

'Regret' is a very strong word. I've done things that I now wish I had done differently. For example, I regret that I gave up playing rugby at 27. I played for Queen's and Ballymena, but then I got offered work with the BBC on a Saturday afternoon, so I put that first. Dad told me not to quit playing. He warned me that there would come a time when my body would not be able to play sport, and I should have listened to him.

All four of my grandparents are dead and I wish I'd spent more time with them. My Granda Fullerton was a very funny character.

I remember mum giving off to him about drink and smoking, and he said: " Linda, what do you want me to die off? Boredom?" So, I try to see mum and dad as often as possible - I don't want to have that regret of not spending enough time with them.

The Maurice Jay Show, U105, Mon-Fri 6-9am