First time it happened to me, honestly, I felt like my whole soul had vanished through a trap door in my mind.

I was just a free fall of ecstasy for days.

This week on Walking the Dog, Ray and I travelled to the Sussex countryside to take a stroll with wine expert,

Saturday Kitchen Regular and author Ollie Smith and his adorable dog Busby.

So Ollie and I had recently been at the same wedding.

By the way, he had on the most fabulous tarpe and suit,

but I was way too shy to go over and say hello,

so I could not have been more thrilled when he agreed to come for a walk with us.

And yes, I won't lie.

Getting to meet Buzzbee did seal the deal.

You'll probably know Ollie best for his role as the wine expert on BBC One Saturday Kitchen,

along with appearances on everything from House of Games to the Wheel,

but he's also had a really fascinating life. And we talked about

all of it from his childhood growing up in Jersey, his exceptional singing voice, he was a chorister

at King's College, Cambridge, and his job working at a wine merchant's which really

kick-started his passion for wine. We also talked about the years he spent as a TV and

film writer, writing episodes of Charlie and Lola, and most magnificently of all, Pingu. Talking of

writing, Ollie has just written his very first crime novel, Death by Noir, and it centres around

the fabulously eccentric owner of a wine shop, who finds himself the prime suspect of a murder,

so sets about cracking the case to find out who done it.

It's a brilliantly written, very funny page turner,

filled with fantastic characters,

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