I have been tagged by Dave Pollard and Luis Suarez and possibly others to take part in a sort of chain letter. One confesses to five things that other people do not know about you, and select five victims to do the same. One of the starting points was Jeff Pulver The full history of this thread up to one point in time has been captured here. A certain degree of status is now attached to how many times and by whom you have been tagged. Its not as easy as you might think to come up with five things however I have done my best. For my five nominees, taking into account those I know have already been invited: Julian Carver, Aiden Choles, Lloyd Davies, Patrick Lamb, Oliver Schwabe
- I was expelled for varying periods from all three educational establishments. Primary School for telling a chapel going teacher that a heifer could not be the female of a bullock, and more importantly for explaining what the bullock had lost, and what had not happened yet to the heifer to prove my point. Secondary School for publishing an illegal school magazine in imitation of Oz, hand typed and cyclostyled which meant it was a work of love to complete. University for being one of the Lancaster 25 (this was the seventies) although I was reinstated when the University was found guilty of a breech of natural justice.
- I think I am the only person in the history of IBM consultancy never to have completed a time sheet. It took a lot of persistence over seven years but I made it.
- I held the all time record for avoiding the compulsory annual cross country run at school; managing to achieve seven years of legitimate excuses without ever needing to fake sickness.
- My early career success was first as a Personnel and Training Officer and then as a Development Accountant. I completed an MBA in financial management and was on track to be an FD before I switched to Decision Support Consultancy, and thence through Business Unit Management to Strategic Marketing and then into research. I was criticised for over attention to detail, excessive focus on profit and lack of creativity in one annual appraisal: after that I never looked back.
- I am a fanatical Wagnerian and have hardly missed a production of the Ring Cycle in the UK since 1980. However I have never managed to get tickets for Bayreuth. I also have at eight full recordings of same and if you have to ask why then you wouldn’t understanding the answer. I also think that being present during the final act of Tristan und Isolde with a really good soprano is one of the most profound emotional experiences available to humanity. I think that anyone who makes any noise during a performance should be taken out and garroted.