Date of birth:
13/08/60
Resides in:
Sheffield and County Kerry, Ireland
Hobbies:
Rock and Ice climbing, Paragliding, Fly fishing, Golf, Bad Cabinet Making, Scuba Diving, Snooker, Photography, Reading, Drinking beer, Arguing, and trying to avoid work.
Favourite:
Holiday destination: Australia, Belize & Costa Rica, Brazil, Chile and Nepal
Website(s): Parliament Speakers, Kathmandu Outdoor & Travel Supplies, The British Mountaineering Council
Book(s): Louis de Bernieres ‘Captain Corellis Mandolin’ (and all his other works), Phillip Pullmans ‘His Dark Mysteries’ Trilogy, All Bruce Chatwin’s books, Hemmingway’s ‘The Old Man and the Sea’, Antony Beevor’s ‘Stalingrad’ & ‘Normandy’, George MacDonald Fraser’s ‘Safe Quartered Out Here’, Michael Shaarma’s ‘Killer Angels’, Thomas Keneally’s ‘Confederates’, Larry McMurty’s ‘Lonesome Dove’, Sebastian Faulks’s ‘Birdsong’, and just about every other book I have read.
Music: Paul Van Dyke, Tiesto, Matt Hardwick, Neil Young, Van Morrison, John Martyn, Leonard Cohen, Etta James, John Lee Hooker, The Pogues, David Gray, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Macy Gray, Prince, and just about every one else depending on my mood.
Film(s): Apocalypse Now, Lord of the Rings, Regeneration, American Beauty, Catch 22, Sirens, A River Ran Through It, Mississippi Burning, Forest Gump, The Life of Brian and The Holy Grail.
Food: Thai and Indian cuisine. Chillis, Sea food and Roast Beef/Lamb.
Drink: Good bitter, gin and tonic, red wine, margaritas and whatever else I can get my hands on…
What has been the most memorable event in your life?
Living.
Who are the people that you most admire and why?
The brave. Comedians and people who laugh easily without pretension or arrogance.
What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?
Being happy and contented with my life. Being surrounded by good friends.
Who would you most like to have climbed with?
Walter Bonatti and Ricardo Cassin
Have you ever had a proper job?
Not really…
Describe your ideal woman
Are you kidding!
Likes:
Anything that pleases me and does not hurt others.
Dislikes:
Politicians – absolutely vile breed of self serving, dishonourable, corrupt, self aggrandising liars without a shred of integrity when their self-interest is threatened. Should all be put in a sack and drowned. PS. I wrote this 10 years ago and thank god they have at last been exposed in this country for being all of the above. Parliamentary privilege should be abolished. MPs and Lords should be charged, tried and imprisoned in the same way we would be..
Ambitions:
Live long and remain happy, wealthy and healthy… (fat chance!)
Top 10 Travel Tips:
- Never eat anything bigger than your head.
- Find out where embassy staff send their children and make that the hospital you go to.
- Never test the depth of the water with both feet.
- If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not for you.
- Don’t squat wearing spurs.
- Always remember you’re unique, just like everyone else.
- ‘Before you criticise someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticise them, you’re a mile away and you have their shoes.’
- If you ask a question you don’t want an answer to, expect an answer you don’t want to hear.
- If at first you don’t succeed, destroy all evidence that you ever tried.
- Butterflies taste with their feet.
Favourite Sayings:
‘The man who says he has no illusions has, at least that one.’ Joseph Conrad.
‘The trouble with doing something right the first time is that nobody appreciates how difficult it was.’ Anon
‘Anybody, whether a novelist or not, must have purpose in life. And that purpose is to understand human reality in the face of death. Death only exists because there is life. That is the great poetry of the world. That is its reality.’ Yasar Kemal
‘These are my principles. If you don’t like them I have others.’ Groucho Marx
