Occasionally, though, there can be too much of a good thing. I suggest at least ten minutes each day in the wardrobe, if you have one big enough to fit you. Close the door, move among the clothes, and enjoy the silence and the darkness. Time to reflect, create, relax.

I started doing this two years ago whilst I was on the dole and facing criminal charges for shoplifting a small nest of tables from John Lewis. Since then, I've invented a new hinge for NASA's space doors, got a job as a senior lecturer in Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic at Downing College, Cambridge and am now engaged to a well-known fashion model heiress. And I put it all down to time in the wardrobe.