The Big One (Blackpool Pleasure Beach) - incredibly fast first drop; at one time this was the tallest and fastest roller coaster in Europe.

Grand National (Blackpool Pleasure Beach) - rickety old vintage wooden coaster (operating since 1935)

Air (Alton Towers) - not the most intense of rides but worth riding for the unique “flying” experience. (Has now been re-themed as Galactica with an added VR experience.)

Nemesis (Alton Towers) - inverted coaster with intense G-forces, continues to rank highly in worldwide roller coaster polls.

On my last visit to Alton Towers, I couldn’t convince my son to ride Oblivion. Since queues on Smiler were a nightmare (this was before the accident), we did Nemesis again instead.

Not been to Thorpe Park, but would like to ride Swarm and Stealth one day.

Went on Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster avec Aerosmith at Disneyland Paris, and Star Tours of course.

Have ridden The Ultimate (the longest roller coaster in Europe) but didn’t really think it was anything special. The most exciting aspect is wondering if the train is going to hit any of the deer that occasionally stray onto the line.

As for flat rides, I’m a fan of Eagle’s Claw at Lightwater Valley which is a KMG Afterburner (a type of pendulum ride).

Also at Lightwater Valley, Whirlwind (which has now gone), which was a Mondial Top Scan. Talking to the operator who told me that it was only ever operated at 70% of it’s top speed because they had complaints about it making people sick.