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The actor and writer Simon Pegg has described himself as a ‘nerd do well’, but that's only part of the story. Today, he's up there in the credits for two of Hollywood's most successful film franchises, Mission: Impossible and Star Trek. He turned his childhood obsessions – zombies, cop shows and sci-fi – into the cult classics Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and the World’s End, the trilogy of films he co-created with director Edgar Wright, and Steven Spielberg cast him in Tintin and Ready Player One. Simon started out as a stand-up comedian and broke through with the much-loved slacker TV sitcom Spaced.

Here’s what we learned from his Desert Island Discs…

1. His dad was on Opportunity Knocks – but was beaten by a future national treasure

Music played a big part in Simon’s life from a very early age, partly because his father ran a music shop in Gloucester and played in a band: “They were called Pendulum – not to be confused with the Aussie post-punk rockers!” Simon recalls.

The highlight of Pendulum’s career was a spot on the TV talent show Opportunity Knocks, and Simon can still remember watching it when he was just five years old: “That was a huge deal... because it meant something then to be on TV. They won on the Clapometer [the studio audience vote] but lost the public vote to the great Pam Ayres.”

And Simon doesn’t begrudge Pam her success: “I'm glad it was Pam because she went on to great things - it wasn't just some cheesy ventriloquist who disappeared into obscurity!” The victory launched Pam’s long career as a highly successful poet and performer (and Desert Island Discs castaway).

2. He chooses his first disc for its musical variety – and some early DIY cover art

Simon selects A Day in the Life by The Beatles, from the Sgt. Pepper album, partly because he personalised a copy of it when he was very young: “[It) was an album which I remember being around when I was very small, and I still have my dad's copy of it.”

“And I scrawled my name onto the gatefold sleeve – Simon Beckingham, which was the name I was born with – in hard biro. I just completely defaced this piece of art!” he laughs.

“A Day in the Life is several songs in one – I feel like it's a bit of a twofer taking it onto the island. I think if you put Lennon and McCartney in a centrifuge and span it, you'd get this song because you have Lennon's contemplative, slightly obnoxiously surreal lyrics and tune. And then you get McCartney's wry positivity. And it's such a beautiful representation of those two.”

3. A drama teacher was a vital influence when Simon was a wayward teenager

When he was 16, Simon headed to Stratford-upon-Avon to take A levels at a college of further education and develop his growing interest in acting – but his teacher wouldn’t let him take a starring role:

“I wasn't allowed to play Hamlet when we did Hamlet,” he says. “I'd gone a little bit off the rails because I'd discovered various things you discover at the age of 16 and my teacher at the time, Gordon Vallins, who was the head of the course, said ‘You're not going to play Hamlet, you're going to play the ghost of Hamlet.’”

“And so my friend Dale played Hamlet very well. But I did get singled out in the Stratford Herald as the best performance! Even though I only came out and said ‘Kill your uncle’. And Gordon was a beautiful man. He was so caring, and he did the right thing. He noticed that I was just drifting away into potentially not getting into university, and so he put me back on track.”

4. His first steps into show business were less than glamorous

Simon started out as a stand-up comedian, partly because he wanted to feel independent:

“I wanted to do my own thing and stand-up is a perfect way to generate your own work and maintain your own integrity,” he says.

“It's just very lonely. I went on tour with Sean Lock and Boothby Graffoe and Simon Munnery around all the universities in the UK, and you do these gigs – and then you wind up just sitting in a bed and breakfast with a Snickers by yourself!”

5. Working with Tom Cruise helped him understand the pressures and privileges of global fame

Simon now finds himself far from nights in a British B&B with just a chocolate bar for company, whenever he’s working with Tom Cruise on the Mission: Impossible films – and he says that he appreciates seeing how Cruise copes with living constantly in the spotlight:

“He loves it and he really relishes it. It's all he knows. It energises him and it spurs him on. I don't think I would appreciate that particularly: I'd find it very stressful and overwhelming and it would make me want to retreat. I'm happy with where I am.”

“We joke about it – I always make fun of him, for the things that he can access. We were filming in South Africa recently on this mountain in the morning, and then [Tom] decided he wanted to go and swim with sharks. So he took us and flew us in a helicopter to this seaside part of South Africa, and we had this bespoke trip out and dived with sharks.”

“And at the end of the day, we were driving back and going ‘That was a real Tom Cruise kind of day, wasn't it?’ And you know, he kind of appreciates the ridiculousness of it sometimes.”

6. Only one film soundtrack makes it onto his list of eight discs – and it’s a classic

Simon readily admits that film and music offered him an escape from the world when he was growing up, and one composer above all made a huge impression – John Williams.

“His scores were the fuel for my imagination when I was a kid. I'd put my headphones on in my grandma's front living room, and I would imagine myself in the universes that he was scoring – Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark and Close Encounters.”

Simon selects the Asteroid Field, from The Empire Strikes Back, as one of his desert island discs: “It scores the moment when the Millennium Falcon is trying to evade all those TIE fighters. It's just the most brilliant piece of cinema and music. I still listen to it now... When I was a kid, I would imagine myself in Star Wars. And so when I eventually got to be in Star Wars, in The Force Awakens, and was at the premiere and saw my name and then saw John Williams – wish fulfilment doesn't even cover it!”

7. He still has Hollywood ambitions he’d love to fulfil

While Simon has worked with some of the biggest names in cinema, he still hopes that one director in particular will come calling: “I had a moment in my career when I was cast in Inglourious Basterds for [Quentin] Tarantino, and then I couldn't do it because I'd already committed to Tintin. Eventually the role went to Michael Fassbender, who was brilliant, but I'm always trying to remind Quentin that I'm around.”

Simon’s not alone in this ambition. Another recent castaway, Richard E Grant, told Lauren: “I have a fantasy that Quentin Tarantino is going to cast me as a sort of sleazy lounge lizard Vegas singer, but that has never come to pass, but that is what I would like!”