Q&A with Dr Amir Khan

Our favourite TV (and real-life) doctor Amir Khan shares his thoughts ahead of his talking tour with FANE.

Q. Who was your hero growing up? And now?

“Our main source of entertainment growing up was Bollywood – so I had Bollywood heroes as a child. Basically there was a template: be good looking, be the perfect son, get the girl and destroy all the villains single-handed and against all the odds. Now I feel like I still would like to be like those Bollywood heroes but it’s not going to happen and it’s too late for me. So I will go for Chris Packham – I love wildlife and protecting nature is so important and what impresses me about Chris is he isn’t afraid to say it how it is when it comes to what we need to do. I met him and he blew me away with his intricate knowledge of the natural world and his ability to describe things so colourfully.”

Q. How was your mum as a matriarch growing up?

“Mama Khan is brilliant and brutal, that’s probably the best way to describe her. She brought up seven kids – I mean who does that?! And she worked full-time as a social worker (she worked her way up from being a cleaner and going to night school) and she made sure we were all kept on the straight and narrow. She was VERY strict growing up, she needed to know where we were at all times and with whom, so nothing has changed. If she didn’t approve it didn’t happen, so no change there either. She was the ultimate feminist – she had six girls and one boy and she didn’t want her girls to think there was anything they couldn’t do. So everything got divvied out equally – vacuuming, washing, drilling, gardening. It didn’t matter if you were a girl or a boy, you mucked in. She is also the BEST cook – if you like Asian food you haven’t tried anything unless you try hers. All the Asian families would come to our house growing up because of her food.”

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