The ‘Twentysomething’ singer - who is engaged to Sophie Dahl, the author and former model - said he tried to impress her with his knowledge of books when they first met.

He said: “We hit it off immediately. I think we knew emotionally that we would become good friends. We just started talking about books - I was reading David Mitchells ‘Cloud Atlas’ at the time - and certain other stuff that we were into.”

Jamie - who met Sophie at a charity event for the Lavender Trust two-and-a-half years ago - said he never thought the former model would be interested in him.

He told the Observer newspaper: “Someone like me never entertains the idea of going after someone like her, so I didn’t go for it. I couldn’t assume that she would be interested in me… but it worked!

“Lucky old me - it turned out to be much more. I think it was to do with the fact that I always carry a good boy around with me. In my case I was actually reading it, although it’s a good chat-up tip, I think, to always carry a good, thick book.”