Where did you meet your partner?

OPINIONS

VANESSA FELTZ, television presenter: My grandmother was in hospital. He was a doctor who came in to take a blood sample. She said: "Are you married?" He said: "No." She said: "Have I got a girl for you!" Later, when I arrived with a bunch of grapes, she said: "Put on some mascara, go to casualty and introduce yourself to this doctor." We were engaged in five weeks.

JIM ROSS, accountant: I met Janine at a New Year's Eve party. I talked to her only briefly but I liked her. I wanted to invite her to a party, but I didn't know her surname. I knew she had a red Golf and that she was at Reading University. So I addressed the invitation to Janine, the girl with the red Golf, c/o Reading University. She received the invitation, came to the party and is now my wife.

LYNN BURNE, wife and mother: I was working in a vet's and Colin used to bring his cat in. I really liked him but I used to go to pieces every time he came in. One weekend I was in Sainsbury's in Cowley when I saw Colin coming down the aisle. I crashed my trolley into his and stopped him. We got chatting and got on so well that he ended up asking me out. That was seven years ago.

MICHAEL HOLROYD, biographer: I met my wife, Margaret Drabble, at a dull committee meeting at the Society of Authors. We had a long friendship, followed by an intense courtship, followed by a sudden marriage.

SHELLEY von STRUNKEL, astrologer: At a conference on 1992 and the European Economic Community at Jesus College, Oxford. I was escorting a girlfriend's boyfriend, and Nigel was sitting across the table. He decided I was interesting, took my phone number and gave me with his number and birth date. I rushed home and did his chart, and we married in 1990.

EGON RONAY, food writer: I met my wife 27 years ago when she joined my guides as a researcher. She was very attractive and learning to fly, so I pretended I was desperately interested in flying. I had to go up in these flimsy matchboxes - I'll never forget it.

JOHN BATES, fishmonger: My wife came into my shop for a piece of cod. We started chatting and I asked her out.