Book excerpt: They may be your inspiration or your best friend, kind protectors or big on homework and manners, there for the first nappy change or always down the pub - but there is no one else quite like Dad. In Dads, Britain's finest and funniest share their anecdotes and personal recollections about both what it is like to be a dad - from the shock of looking after a new born to the mixed blessings that are teenagers - and their changing relationships with their own fathers. The phenomenal list of high-profile contributors includes Sir Richard Branson, Bill Bryson, Andrew Collins, Jilly Cooper, Richard Curtis, Sir Alex Ferguson, Anna Ford, Joanne Harris, Charlie Higson, Kathy Lette, Davina McCall, Fiona Millar, David Miliband, Anthony Minghella, John O'Farrell, David Puttnam, Ian Rankin, David Tennant, Alan Titchmarsh and Fay Weldon Hugely entertaining and thought-provoking in turns, this celebration of fatherhood explores just what it is to be a dad.