AceShowbiz - Actor Hugh Laurie regrets not signing up to the Hong Kong police force as a teenager - because he could have retired a long time ago. The "House" star, 51, considered jetting off to the Far East when he was 16 and working for the police force, but gave up on the idea to study at Britain's prestigious Cambridge University.

However, Laurie admits he still thinks about what his life could have been if he'd pursued his first career choice. He tells Britain's Sunday Express, "When I was 16 they were looking for me to serve in the colony. I became fixated on this romantic idea of working on the other side of the world and wearing a duffel coat and probably short trousers. I would have smoked a pipe, been acerbic and reunited young lovers."

"I even got the brochure and sure enough the uniforms were very smart and it was all shaping up well. Now I slightly regret not taking that course as in 2001 all these blokes in the Hong Kong police who would have been in my position would have been retiring at the age of 35."