Julian Assange: 'Worst thing anyone's said? That I was so mean to their cat it turned psychotic By Sarah Oliver As well as cat-bothering, the WikiLeaks founder has been accused of working for the CIA and Hezbollah and had an out-of-body experience the day Thatcher died, but can you guess which part of his body is abnormally big? What is your best character trait? My stubbornness. WikiLeaks wouldn't exist without it. Broadly it also means I keep promises and hold fast to my principles,' said Julian Assange What is your earliest memory? When I was three or four, my family's house on Magnetic Island off the coast of Queensland burned down. I stood and watched in awe as the shotgun shells we used for killing snakes exploded in the fire. What sort of a child were you? Curious, naughty, adventurous - always muddy and usually in some sort of danger. I loved tunnelling into the abandoned quarry system near where we lived in New South Wales. Down by the sea I would build rafts, have them nicked by rival gangs and steal them back by building mantraps of hollowed-out sand holes on the beach. It was a classic boy's childhood. What is the worst thing you've said to anyone? I don't love you any more. What are you best at? Being annoying. I can cite many sources... What would you like to be better at? Dancing and boxing. Broadly it also means I keep promises and hold fast to my principles. What's the worst thing said about you? That I am a cat-torturer. A book claimed I was so mean to someone's pet cat when I visited their flat that I induced feline psychosis,' said Julian (pictured: film Cats and Dogs) What is your worst character trait? Almost every bother imaginable in my life has been a result of my refusal to compromise. What has been your biggest achievement? In terms of action, going head to head with the U.S. State Department, the Pentagon, the White House, the FBI and CIA and winning: WikiLeaks hasn't destroyed any of its publications or stopped publishing as they demanded. In terms of results, helping move the internet from a politically apathetic space to a politically engaged one. Just look at the Arab Spring. What has been your biggest disappointment? Learning that even intelligent people can be cowards and that courage is a much rarer attribute than intelligence. What's the worst thing anyone has said about you? Among others, that I am a CIA agent, a Mossad agent, a Hezbollah agent and an agent of George Soros. Also that I am a cat-torturer. A book claimed I was so mean to someone's pet cat when I visited their flat that I induced feline psychosis. Who is your dream dinner date? Margaret Thatcher. On The Fifth Element, the upcoming WikiLeaks film: 'It's a hostile work' When did you last tell a lie and what was it? See my answer to the dinner date question. On the day of her funeral we had a six-hour power cut here in the Ecuadorian embassy. I thought she might be trying to re-animate. What is your most treasured possession? My integrity. What is your biggest regret? That my children and others I love have been so affected by my work. They've had to move house, change their names and be careful about conducting a relationship with me. Tell us something we wouldn't know about you. I am one of the ten per cent of people whose second toe is longer than their big toe What's been the best night of your life? Watching the people of Egypt rise up and take Alexandria. It was a clear sign the Arab Spring was extending beyond Tunisia. Publications by WikiLeaks contributed to that, helping men and women choose their destiny. It's our raison d"être. What do you think of The Fifth Estate, the upcoming WikiLeaks film with Benedict Cumberbatch? We are WikiLeaks so we have a leaked copy of the script! It's a hostile work and, although Benedict Cumberbatch is personally supportive, when he asked to come and meet me in the embassy I said no because I didn't want to legitimise the film. Who do you admire most and why? Bradley Manning, the U.S. soldier currently on trial for leaking Iraq War documents to WikiLeaks; and Daniel Ellsberg, the whistle-blower who released the Pentagon Papers containing America's Vietnam War secrets in 1971. Manning's trial will go down as one of the most disgraceful perversions of justice ever. A show trial whose purpose is to deter whistle-blowers. What do you think about the U.S. secret surveillance programme Prism and the CIA man who revealed it, Edward Snowden? It's clear proof of the transition of the Western world to a surveillance dystopia. Prism is beyond the worst nightmares of Orwell and the greatest fantasies of the Stasi. Obama has taken on what Bush began and decided to "do it properly." Snowden is a hero who stands accused of everything from spying for the Chinese to being rude to his neighbours. How would you like to be remembered? I wouldn't. It's more important to get things done than to be remembered for having done them.