Fred was the managing director of a large software company. He cut an unlikely figure – entirely bald, enormously fat, with tie askew and an unbuttoned jacket revealing a pair of wide braces holding up his trousers. He was also extraordinarily uncouth, peppering his sentences with expletives regardless of his audience. By no stretch of the imagination could Fred be said to be politically correct or to display any sensitivity or interpersonal skills. But the man had a brilliant mathematical […]
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- 15 January 2013
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Every morning for eight years I have weighed myself on scales that my wife bought from John Lewis. I do this after taking a shower and before getting dressed. The machine ‘knows’ it is me rather than my wife because I switch it on by touching the right-hand button with my big toe (my wife touches the left-hand button unless, of course, she wants to pretend to be me). The machine immediately springs to life and reminds me that I […]
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- 14 December 2012
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Keith was the Managing Director of a construction company. A qualified surveyor, he had long since abandoned his profession as he rose, too rapidly for his own good, through the management hierarchy. Keith had some very irritating characteristics. First, he always, even when angry, wore a supercilious smile. It was an ‘I’m better than you’ smile. Second, he didn’t walk; he strutted and, thirdly, he always knew best. Whatever the topic or occasion, Keith behaved as if he knew more […]
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- 18 October 2012
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Roger was a senior manager in an advertising agency. He had a large team working for him – designers, graphic artists, copy writers as well as support people. His team were talented and creative and often won prestigious awards for their work. Roger was a Jekyll-and-Hyde character. With outside clients, the media, anyone more senior and with certain favourites in his team, he was charming. He was highly articulate, with a deep voice, a quick sense of humour and an […]
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- 29 August 2012
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Over the years I have been on lots of holidays – camping, narrow boating, hiking, lazing on beaches, sitting by hotel swimming pools, visiting Disney World in Florida with the kids, New York in the autumn, exploring archaeological sites along the North African coast and in Greece and Sicily, cruising on the Nile and exploring the Western Desert in a 4×4 – but the best have always been music festivals organised by Martin Randall Travel (MRT). I know Martin Randall (he […]
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