**1. What was your first job?**
Officer cadet RMA Sandhurst shortly after my 18th birthday and clearly before there was a need to have attended university which was never going to be an option.
**2. What was the best advice you were ever given?**
Firstly, make sure you enjoy your work, sadly there are many who do not. Professionally, the first cut is the easiest (i.e., if in doubt sell it before it gets worse!).
**3. What was the last book you read?**
Slow Horses by Mick Heron, truly the new young John Le Carre.
**4. What would be the first item on your bucket list?**
Walking holiday in Bhutan.
**5. Who inspires you?**
No one currently, which is rather depressing, perhaps Mr Modi or Elon Musk of Tesla fame.
**6. What does your ideal weekend involve?**
Long summer meals with friends and family at home in SW France.
**7. How long can you go without your mobile?**
A matter of hours if markets are open. One has to be permanently attuned to potential negative surprises and their impact.
**8. What advice would you give the young you?**
Find something that genuinely you enjoy or think comes naturally. Do not be pressured by others who want to put you in a recognised professional box.
**9. What would be your luxury item on Desert Island Discs?**
My iPad with internet, so I had a connection to the BBC World Service, the FT and The Spectator magazine.
**10. Who would you most like to meet, and why?**
The Queen (again). It’s been a long time since I guarded Windsor Castle and was invited to dinner! A remarkable lady, who has been through an extortionary period in Great Britain’s evolution over the past 60 plus years.
