The millionaire businessman shows us the home office where he turns into Goldfinger

When I’m in my chair I feel like Goldfinger or one of the other Bond villains. Under my desk there’s a secret switch on the right which can raise my monitor out of the top. I also have cats like Mini-Me in Austin Powers, but mine are two Persians called Coco and Bella (short for Tinkerbell); Coco was here first and gets very territorial of this area. She’s a very snooty cat.

My wife is an artist, and we’ve got quite a nice set-up. She paints in her studio to the left of this space. When I’m buying art with her, I tend not to negotiate. She’s very passionate about her field and says: “For God’s sake darling, artists need a living, too.”

When we first bought the house this room was my gym. I bought a treadmill and after three years I still hadn’t removed the Harrods price tag. I used to hang my jacket on the arms instead and I don’t think we ever actually turned it on.

We’ve lived here in St John’s Wood for 15 years now. We moved from Winchmore Hill, where we had a slightly larger house, because we needed to move closer to town so that my daughters, Hannah and Gemma, could go to City of London School for Girls. They are both now in their final years at university (they are only 11 months apart).

Hannah is quite interested in private equity, because she’s very financially astute. Gemma is more artistic. What tends to happen at the weekend is if I have bits and pieces to do, they will be in here on the sofas opposite my desk, doing their homework on their laptops.

My executive assistant shares my office at Hamilton Bradshaw in Mayfair, but I can normally do two or three meetings from here before I leave. I’m very protective of the rest of the house though. That’s strictly for family business only.

• The Real Deal: My Story, from Brick Lane to Dragons’ Den, by James Caan, is published by Virgin books at £18.99. Dragons’ Den is on Wednesdays at 9pm on BBC2.