Where do you live?
Ottawa, Canada with wife Karen Ann who I married in 1965. I spend two periods a year in Cyprus, Spring and Fall
Best childhood memory?
I stood at the top of the world: the day I passed the entrance exam for the English School, Nicosia in 1951
Most frequented restaurant and absolute favourite dish?
Mardinli’s Fish restaurant near Xeros. This restaurant makes the best Grilled Sea Bass anywhere I know
What food would you really turn your nose up to?
Tripe soup
What did you have for breakfast?
I am now on diet. Porridge with maple syrup, half a pink grapefruit, yogurt, coffee
Would you class yourself as a day or night person? What’s your idea of the perfect night/day out?
Watching a great musical show, a cabaret or floor show after a good dinner with good friends.
Best book ever read?
Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind. I loved the story of the destruction of a civilization, a way of life based on slavery yet, in the end, the fighting spirit of Scarlet O’Hara was so uplifting.
Favourite film of all time?
Probably, Dr Zhivago – the love-story between Tara and Dr Zhivago against the horrors of the Communist Revolution. As in Gone With The Wind, the victory of the human spirit to survive and overcome adversity is a theme I find appealing.
Favourite holiday ever taken? What’s your dream trip?
Lake District, north of England in 1971 with my wife and first son, Sean, when he was a six years old… the setting against a sparkling lake and hills and meadows was idyllic. Dinner that night was “well-hung” game done to perfection. My dream trip would be a literary conference in a Swiss-type resort, discussing the greatest novels followed by a gourmet dinner with friends and novelists explaining their favourite characters.
What music are you listening to in the car at the moment?
I’m Your Man! by Leonard Cohen
What is always in your fridge?
Cold beer, Heineken.
Dream house: rural retreat or urban dwelling? Where would it be, what would it be like?
Rural dwelling on the slopes of the Pentadaktylos Mountains with the blue Mediterranean out the front – with a big garden of roses, herbs and citrus trees.
If you could pick anyone at all (alive or dead) to go out for the evening with, who would it be?
Zenos of Kitium. To ask him to solve the CyProb
If the world is ending in 24 hours what would you do?
I would celebrate…at last no more CyProb
What is your greatest fear?
Greeks and Turks will go on distrusting each other.
Tell me a joke…
A divorced man in his 40s meets a divorced woman somewhat younger at the bar. They like each other and, before the night’s end, decide to get married.
He says to her: “I want to be absolutely honest with you… so let me tell you what I like and dislike so you’d know.” She says: “OK.”
He then goes on: “I am a man of habit, I work every day, 9-5 so every morning I must have a clean shirt, pants ironed, shoes polished. When I come home I expect dinner to be ready. Oh, by the way, every Monday night, it’s my poker night with friends. Then on Tuesdays, we go bowling and Wednesdays it is my gym night. Now, tell me about your likes and dislikes.”
Disappointed, she says: “I have only one thing I must have… sex every night at 9pm whether you are here or not.”
