All-time favorite advertisement?
“Despite my job, I’ve never paid much attention to advertising — except to wonder why so much of it is so bad. Assuming the best ads are the most memorable, though, one of my favorites would be the first Ben Kingsley ad for Live Aid.”
Your perfect meal?
“Location and environment are more important to me than food quality or service, so maybe a restaurant in the West Indies with my wife Susan. I reckon we’d order flying fish and fried plantains.”
Earliest childhood memory?
“In Charlton, southeast London, lying on my cot watching the headlights of cars on my bedroom ceiling.”
What song’s been stuck in your head lately?
“‘There May Be Glory,’ by the Dulwich Ukulele Club.”
The weirdest place somebody has recognized you in public?
“The British are known for not acknowledging each other in public, so it’s hard to say whether the queen was waving at me during the royal wedding.”
In one sentence, what do you actually do all day in your job?
“I try to solve more problems than I cause.”
Your drink?
“Sacred Grounds coffee from Highland Coffee Company.”
Best Louisville bar?
“I don’t drink, but Proof’s a terrific place to be seen.”
Favorite possession?
“My stuffed bear.”
All-time favorite Louisville restaurant?
“It’d be a toss-up between Please & Thank You for breakfast, Bendoya for lunch and Kashmir for dinner. If I could only pick one of those three, I’d say Jack Fry’s and 211 Clover Lane.”
The most you ever lost on a horse race?
“I lose the same thing every time I watch a horse race: two more minutes of my life.”
Biggest guilty pleasure?
“On weekends I eat chocolate.”
What tattoos do you have?
“A swallow on my left shoulder. I got it when I was a teenager; I later found out it’s the tattoo of choice for prisoners serving at her majesty’s pleasure.”
If forced to get a tattoo today, what would you get?
“A tattoo of the English football team’s crest, the Three Lions, over my heart.”
Best book you’ve read over the past year?
“1984, by George Orwell. It remains an unsettlingly accurate prediction of where we seem to be headed as a culture: self-interest and self-preservation over intellectual freedom and creativity, almost unquestioned respect for individuals in authority, nationalism and distrust of those who are different.”
Bardstown Road, Frankfort Avenue or Market Street?
“I love change and growth and coolness — so Market Street…with Bardstown Road in close (but fading) second place.”
What’s something nobody knows about you?
“This is embarrassing, but I used to like ’70s rock. There, I said it.”
Fleur de Lis: had enough or can’t get enough?
“It’s certainly no lamer than ‘Keep Louisville Weird,’ plus it’s not a blatant rip-off.”
Fill in the blank: “__________ Louisville” should be the next banner on the side of a building.
“Not Todd Blue’s.”
If Actors Theatre staged a production about your life, what would it be called?
“Stalin, the Cool Years.”
Where do you go to be alone?
“Mitch McConnell Fan Club meetings.”
