1.  Corinne Day: Photographer

I get my ideas for photographs anywhere, at any time; I don’t have to be specifically doing anything. I keep a diary at home and write down any t houghts I have, and then when a job comes up, I see if there is anything in it that applies. It’s almost impossible for me to switch off. When I was abroad recently, I wanted to get away from taking photographs, so I didn’t take my camera with me. But I could still see pictures all the time and wished I had brought it.

2.  Jan Kaplicky: Architect

Success in my job depends on the people you have around you and how good they are. There are engineers, model- makers, photographers  — architecture is not a one-man product. I come into the office every day. I like to arrive at 8 a.m., as this is a very peaceful period when I can think about things before the usual routine starts and other people arrive. The initial idea for a job comes to me just like that sometimes. Having lots of ideas for one problem is not a sign that you are creative; that’s just a waste of energy. But I do think a lot of creativity depends on your relationships with other people.

3.  J. B. Ballard: Novelist

I think the enemy of creativity in the world today is that so much thinking is done for you. The environment is so full of television, you hardly need to do anything. Children make you see what reality is all about. Mine were a huge inspiration for me. Watching them creating their separate worlds was a very enriching experience. As for learning to be creative, I think there are a lot of skills that you need to be born with. I wrote from a pretty early age, eight or nine, and I’ve always had a very vivid imagination.

4.  Peter Molyneux: Computer Game Creator

Perhaps the greatest difference between people who are creative and people who are not is that the former always think their idea will work. They never think, ‘That's not going to work, that’s a stupid idea’. But a lot of the time I don’t know where my ideas come from. I can remember incredibly clearly the time I saw my first computer game, in a shop window. From that moment on it was as if I’d found my aim in life. I find the computer game is very creative. It brings together many different disciplines: the logic of programming, mathematics, storytelling... The general idea for a game is easy, the real challenge always comes about six months later when you have to design all the parts of the game, and consider things like how many pieces of information players can take before they get confused.