Buckland Club Chairman: 2016 – present
Committee Member: From autumn 1997
Member since spring 1997
Occupation: former teacher, publican, microbrewery owner & vintners’ friend.
Most memorable dinner: The Futurist Dinner – my first dinner as a Sponsor. Somehow members were accidently persuaded to eat soup with their hands.
Most Bucklandish dish consumed: dog stew in North Korea. It would have been wrong to refuse on so many levels.
Last Meal request: a bottle of red wine from one of the many fabulous vineyards around Panzoult (in the Loire Valley), scene of numerous magical family holidays; plus some bread and local goats’ cheese.
Fantasy Sponsor: Tony Hancock would be hilarious. Pie and mash along with bucket loads of brown ale and vodka.
Fantasy Guest: Bob Carolgyes & Spit The Dog. I once sat at a table with him during a dinner at the Birmingham Hippodrome. The evening ended in a riot with Carolgyes leading a singsong that involves everybody dancing around the room.
Unwanted Guest: Jamie Oliver. Pukka, mockney cockney idiot. Telling the nation’s children what to eat – give the kids crisps, turkey twizzlers and blue pop, I say. In fairness, he can cook.
One Cuisine Only: Indian. It has to be. I really don’t think that I would tire of curry …especially for breakfast.
More: insects. I think that this will become pretty commonplace in the years to come. The Buckland Club was a trailblazer when we fed the Archbishop of York locusts at a Biblical Dinner. He was quite unperturbed.
Less: Raki. The only time I recall getting drunk from the legs upwards. The end result resembled Bambi on ice.
Guilty Pleasure: black pudding, pork scratchings or anything else pig related.
Epitaph: He Suffered Fools Gladly.