In 2010 BBC One started a documentary called The Bionic Vet focussing on Noel and his team's work which showcased new techniques to help pets with health issues. This moved onto Channel 4 with a new name in 2014 where 16 series of Supervet have been made. There are lots of mentions of darkness, loneliness, not being good enough, and how he is saved by a sparky little dog whom he calls his best friend ever, “my little girl”.

Yet he says that all anyone ever asks him is (a) is he married? (b) Is he vegetarian? And (c) is he the inspiration for Britney’s 2003 hit ‘Toxic’? I’ve been blessed by the universe with these gifts,” he says. “I’m like an artist painting at 4am, except unlike the artist, I just keep painting.” He segues straight into a story about appearing on the Late Late Show a few years ago when he stopped his taxi to rescue a swan who’d crash-landed on a wet road outside the RTÉ studios. Animal rights advocates have for years been campaigning against the horrors of laboratory testing on animals, from monkeys to mice, beagles to guinea pigs.) Then, around 200 years ago, medicine began to split off — so that to test the efficacy of drugs for the treatment of human illness and injury, physicians began introducing disease into otherwise healthy animals.And the dog responds: “I can feel your heart, like it’s my own. Let me try to take your pain away as you did mine. Maybe we can dream bigger than ever before.”

Search through hundreds of recommended walks, treats, toys and places to stay when you're on an adventure together. He says how Leonardo da Vinci was both a scientist and an artist simultaneously, and didn’t differentiate between the two disciplines. “Neither do I,” he says.

The small acts of kindness that stood out during one of Dublin's bleakest nights

Noel also revealed how he was able to get the time to write his new book Beyond Supervet despite his busy job, revealing a flat out schedule. After finishing a day at work he would write from 10m all the way through the night until 5.30am, only sleeping between 6am and 10am.