Stephen Gately's P a s s i o n s

Singer Stephen Gately, 25, is a Merlin wannabe who'd love to watch Star Trek over a spicy Indian meal in Bombay.

I remember being totally speechless when I first met Michael Jackson, because I'd been a massive fan for ages. I was literally lost for words. Thankfully, I was much more relaxed the second time I met him. That was at a Michael Jackson Friends' concert and I was able to find a few words to say to him.

If I could be someone else for the day, I'd choose to be Merlin the magician. He's always been my favourite Disney character and I don't mind admitting that I've been a Disney nut nearly all my life. I even collect original Disney sketches. I used to love performing magic tricks as a child, so that's probably why I became such a Merlin fan.

I first became hooked on Big Brother by watching it in Holland with my boyfriend Eloy at our place there. The show originated in Amsterdam and I made Eloy translate what they were saying for me, so I could understand what everyone was up to.

I'm a big advocate of acupuncture to alleviate stress. I used to have needles with big clamps on the end stuck into me. The clamps make the treatment more potent- it's great for my energy levels.

I've been lucky to travel a lot with Boyzone and I fell in love with India. It's filled with such beautiful buildings and people. In Bombay, I couldn't get enough of the spicy food. It's a fascinating country, but I was sad to see that there's also a lot of suffering, sickness and poverty there.

I'm a big admirer of The Corrs and my favourite song of theirs is Love Gives, Love Takes. It's beautiful, but then so are the group. Has there ever been a better-looking band? I doubt it. Must be those Irish genes!

I'm a bit of a Trekkie and love the feature films, especially Star Trek: First Contact. It marks the arrival of Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard after the death of Captain Kirk. It can't have been easy for him following in William Shatner's footsteps, but he did a really good job replacing him as the central figure in the series.

The Game Of Life by Barbara Booth is my favourite book. It's a great story about a woman called Marjorie who takes her sister Molly away from Bournemouth to start a new life in one of the last remaining colonies. It's well written and very, very funny.