Thomas J. Leonard

I was reading The Times, as you do, and I read this feature about this phenomenon, this thing that was taking off in America, and it was called life coaching.

And it was a man called Thomas J. Leonard who was selling pensions and life insurance, and he had noticed that his clients wanted more help to reach their goals and to make change.

And he called it personal coaching, personal life coaching.

And I thought, "My God, that's what I do.

So the kids would go and get into bed with Mum and Grandpa, and they'd take their storybooks, and I'd li- have a lie in and then read Good Housekeeping magazine.

And I was reading this article, and it was about Thomas Leonard, who the Americans say is the founder of coaching.

I think Socrates probably was the founder of coaching.

[laughs]