For the uninitiated, Clarke is a renowned TV host and architect, famed for his work on the Channel 4 programmes The Home Show, The Restoration Man, George Clarke's Old House New Home, and George Clarke's Amazing Spaces.

In this special one-off podcast, he takes us back in time to reveal what prompted him to choose architecture as a career.

“By the age of 12 I knew definitely, 100% I wanted to be an architect,” he says. He was inspired by his grandad who was a builder, who, he says worked on large infrastructure projects.

One of his fondest memories albeit a painful one was sitting in the back of the cabin of an excavator while his granddad “moved the muck around”. He hit his head on the back of the glass because the vehicle jerked around.

While today children aren’t allowed anywhere near construction sites, Clarke notes that he wouldn’t be where he is if he didn’t have those experiences back then.

He recalls visiting his grandfather during his school holidays and watching him work, pointing out that “those were the best days of my life”.

“Health & Safety would have killed that ironically,” he laughs. As a child, Clarke loved to sketch, a trait he inherited from his dad, an amateur cartoonist.

This planted a seed in his heart along with watching his grandfather put much passion into his projects.

Clarke would then read books on architecture and memorise terms and building codes in his school days.

Abstract maths was a sore subject for Clarke, so when he was 15, he spoke to a careers officer revealing that he wished to take up architecture as a career without having to do maths. The career counsellor told him that he “would never become an architect”.

This upset him, and as he got home, he looked up every architect in Newcastle and Sunderland in the telephone directory and sent them handwritten letters asking them to give him a job when he leaves school.

He managed to get a job with one architect post leaving school after which he pursued a B. Tech in Building and Construction while maintaining his apprenticeship. He hasn’t looked back since.

When asked what his favourite period of architecture is, “Georgian” he responds promptly. He believes that the Georgian era had some of the best architects.

“High ceilings, arched windows and really simple details are some of the key highlights of Georgian architecture that make it stand out,” Clarke notes.

Among his favourite architects, he looks up to Sir John Soane as a role model, pointing out that the Breakfast Room he designed is an “absolute work of art”.

Clarke also shared his thoughts on modern housing and new developments. He believes that SME builders are putting “some really good work” into constructing houses.

However, top construction firms are not “good enough” he implies. “Town planning is a mess.” He believes the new age developers are creating “substandard” projects compared to builders 50 years back.

Without wanting to point fingers he says that planners need to implement stricter guidelines for high-quality housing.

Something that drives him “absolutely insane” is the no-intelligent car park or road strategy, which he says is a “fundamental flaw of highway parking design”.

He complains that most big house builders only accommodate one parking space per house leaving the road strewn with cars half on the curb and half on the street.

“Culturally the entire system needs to change whether it is parking or the windows, it needs to be designed properly,” he says.

Clarke and Holland’s chat then moved to football, where we learn that he supports Sunderland AFC with yesteryear record appearance-maker, Jim Montgomery his all-time favourite player.

Holland arranged a surprise for Clarke on the show as Jim Montgomery joined the show via a call.

Listen to more here.