``I doubt it very much. I would probably have done more drugs,'' says Noel, mischievously deploying the gift of the gab which has won the Gallaghers so many acres of tabloid outrage.

``I don't regret any of it. They were the best days of my life. Part of me wishes I was still a bit mad, a bit juvenile, a little bit carefree. Regret is a funny word to use because it implies you would sit around and wish it was different. I don't wish that one day of my life was different at all.''

This is just a glimmer of the bloody-minded Gallagher certainty which gets up some people's noses. Noel is well aware of the impression left by a blizzard of soundbites down the years. Those impressions can be deceptive. One to one, he is polite, personable, quick-witted and, compared with the average celebrity interviewee, refreshingly honest.

``It happens still to this day with people who meet you on the street or on aeroplanes. You have a five minute chat with them and they say `I never knew you were like that'. I would not expect them to know, because every time someone sticks a microphone in front of me, they are asking me questions about stuff I have a strong opinion on and I come across as a bit of a lippy t***.

``To become the biggest band in England is pressure enough, but then to become the biggest band in the world ... we were so photographed and so over-exposed, though I don't like using that word. We were just everywhere, and it did become a chore for the people reading the papers. We were right in the middle of it so we did not know what was going on in the outside world.''

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