Jason Bradbury can ignite the interest of absolutely anyone when it comes to gadgets, so magnetic is his passion for all things techno.

The sparky 39-year-old TV presenter is undoubtedly the current envy of most men as he gets to test (or is that play with?) gizmos galore, while calling it work!

A man of many talents - he can list stand-up comedian and pilot on his CV for starters - Jason has most recently turned his hand to writing.

His first novel, for children, is due to be published early next year. The plot is a tantalising mix of comedy and techno-wizardry. and, with it, Jason hopes to get hundreds of kids as fired up about technology as he was at their age - and still is today.

But, for a man who has probably tested more gadgets than he's had hot dinners, you might be surprised by the gadget he just can't cope without...

You obviously love gadgets and technology, but what first sparked your interest and how old were you?
I was 11 or 12 and it was the rise of personal computers in the early '80s that caught my interest. My father worked in the plastics industry and he was at the forefront of computer design. He'd bring home various computers, as he was looking to design the plastic cases for them, so I had these things to play with from an early age. I tried to discover how they worked and how I could make my name go across the screen 200 times.

Before he died, my dad designed a golf club shaft which is full of different pockets of pressurised gas so that, when you swing the club, it will have a whipping effect. When it was measured, it was the fastest golf club in the world. Unfortunately, it never got to market. I don't possess the skills to move that on - it's a business thing really. I have four of these drivers in my golf bag but all they do is accentuate my terrible golf. Rather than the ball going just off the fairway, it now goes into the housing estate next door! >

Did you have a scientific brain when you were at school?
Yes, I was good at science-based stuff. If I'm honest, I was a bit of a star pupil. But I didn't follow it up. The only science A-level I did was psychology and then at university I did arts. But the love of science, and the way things work, has always been with me.

You're a qualified pilot. which do you find more exhilarating - flying or getting your hands on the latest gadget?
That's a really good question. Well, what is a plane if it's not just a great big gadget? So actually, the two things are related and it's the reason I learned to fly. Planes are the best boys' toy you could ever play with. Having said that, when I got my hands on my first iPhone it was pretty exhilarating - I was doing a bungee jump off a bridge while holding the phone. I was given the task of sending a text message and making a call without having read the manual. If I couldn't do it, they were going to leave me dangling...

But back to the question. I love technology, I love the feeling of awe I get from it. There's a kind of alchemy about it, almost like a medieval kind of wonderment that I get when I look at some gadgets - a flexible screen or a mobile phone that charges itself without being plugged into anything - all kinds of really crazy, new innovations. They fill me with as much wonderment as jumping into an aircraft and flying it.

You've got a very interesting background, starting off in stand-up comedy. Why did you leave that world?
The truth is, I've never left it. A geek reviewing technology and a comic seem to be completely different but look at someone like Jamie Oliver. He's not on TV because he's a great cook; he's on TV because he's a great cook and he's entertaining. I'm not going to blow my own trumpet but I'd be silly if I didn't understand what it is I offer, which is a comedian's understanding of how to engage people. My job is all about making seemingly dry subjects really interesting and laugh-out-loud funny.

You went to University with David Walliams, then formed a double-act with him. Have you got him hooked on gadgets?
In a word... No. I haven't even talked gadgets with him. But I'm sure he's got some nice kit - I just don't know what it is.

In your view, what's the next big thing in the gadget world?
Wireless power - the transmission of energy through the air, so you have the television on a wall but it doesn't need to be plugged in to anything. It's based on the work of Nikoli Tesla, a Victorian who had these crazy ideas. It's taken 100 years but we've finally realised he wasn't a crackpot and some of his ideas about wireless power transmission are now being implemented.

There's a film called The Prestige starring Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale and David Bowie. It's about two magicians who pull off this incredible trick using science. Bowie plays an eccentric genius and that's Nikoli Tesla - he's the kind of pin-up boy for geek historians!

What would be your ultimate can't-live-without gadget?
My dishwasher! Undoubtedly the most boring piece of tech, but the most crucial piece. It's the thing that gives me my freedom to go and play with

My other gadgets, rather than constantly having my hands in a sink. I've got a three-year-old daughter, Marnie, and Jackson, who's nine months, and they consume crockery like some kind of weird crock monsters.

My second-favourite can't-live-without gadget would be my iPhone. It means that right now I can talk to you, I can take a picture of the car we're filming and put it on my blog, I can surf the internet, I can look at my emails, I can find out what the weather's doing, I can navigate back to the train station and I can do all of that with a user experience that is something akin to eating Green & Black's chocolate. It's just so tasty and sweet and lovely!

Computer games are very often blamed for children's inactivity today. Are consoles designed for outdoor use the future for kids' gadgets?
It's going to go that way because it's fun, exciting, different and possible, and not because a bunch of people who haven't even played a computer game want to get moralistic about it. That just makes me angry. People want to get out from in front of the screen, not because they need to, and certainly not because there's some moral code driving them out, but because they want something new. Technology is about striving for newness and never being satisfied with what you've got - it's the big technological itch.

Where did you get the idea for your children's book? And have you already planned the whole trilogy?
The science and technology behind it is based on my gadget travels around the world as well as my own experiences as a kid, being a geeky boy who was into technology. The first book will be called Dot Robot and my main character is a maths genius, which I can assure you I'm not even close to!

He gets recruited by a secret organisation which has some incredibly sophisticated gadgets and technology.

I know exactly what's going to happen in the whole trilogy. They're aimed at nine- to 13-year-olds - the Harry Potter market. Hopefully, girls will enjoy the books, too. I tried very hard to create a sassy girl character - she's a young engineer who's a fantastically intelligent, punky, funky chick! Interestingly, the people who put money into technology for the big corporations such as Sony, Samsung and Philips, understand that women are their new market.

I hope the trilogy will engage children in the wonderment of science and technology but off the back of a rip-snorting story.

If you were stranded on a desert island, what three gadgets would you want to have with you?
A mobile phone - but that defeats the beauty of being there, doesn't it?

So, some kind of flying machine - either one I can fly around for fun and entertainment or something I can actually jump on.

I wouldn't mind the one-man submarine I got to try out in San Francisco last year, called the Innespace Dolphin. It's a submersible shaped like a dolphin - but you don't just drive around in it - you can do flips and rolls, just like a very skittish dolphin. I'd also have a GPS device so I could work out where I was and gaze longingly at the 3,000-mile stretch of water between me and home.

Still on the desert island, what three items would you have with you that are totally non-gadget related?
I'd have my favourite book, World War Z by Max Brooks. It's about zombies taking over the world. I'd have a good photograph of my family and a box of Special K. I love it. It's healthy, tasty, you can have it at night and you don't feel bloated - it's beautiful.

Coming from your comedy background, what's the funniest or most useless gadget you've come across?
Well, there's a bike out at the moment called StreetSurfer which has a normal bike wheel at the back but four really small wheels on the front. My question is... Why? I just think you can't improve on your basic two-wheel bike. I tried the StreetSurfer and it was just dangerous! You take your life into your hands, and for what reason?

Jason Bradbury a little bit extra on the side

• Sacha Baron Cohen - aka Borat and Ali G - did work experience for Jason when he hosted his first TV show called Tele West in the mid '90s.
• Jason used to own a five-screen hydraulic flight simulator which he kept in the lounge until his girlfriend, Claire, insisted he got rid of it! He sold it to a research assistant at Oxford University for the study of flight dynamics.
• For his forthcoming book (Dot Robot - due out in February 2009, published by Puffin), Jason has had to relearn maths. 'I love maths, but I'm rubbish at it,' he says. Given that the main character in his book is a maths genius, he's had to swat up on the stuff he learned at school and then some! Current obsessions include mathematical origami and secret codes.
• Jason owns two bi-pedal (walking) robots. One, Robonova, was the first ever to appear in OK! magazine. The robot also appeared on Ready Steady Cook with Jason.
• Jason owns a 1980s Sinclair C5 electric car. The three-wheeled vehicle, hardly longer than a bicycle, was considered the flop of the '80s but Jason believes it was simply ahead of its time. He uses the plastic machine to pop down to Blockbuster.
• Jason's gadget of the moment is the Powerplate. He has one of the £3,500 vibrating gym machines in his home and regularly uses it to work out. The theory is that, by throwing the user off balance as many as 30 times a second, the machine puts your core muscles under a much greater strain during simple exercises, making press-ups and sit-ups far more effective.

First Published in Ultimate Gadgets with Jason Bradbury, June 2008