What
gets you up in the morning?
Apart from a good cuppa tea, work that is creative and purposeful,
bright sunny mornings (snowy is good too) and Radio 4.
Full
of the joys of spring or miserable as sin?
Everyone has low moments, but I must have been born with a sunrise
in my eyes because I always see possibilities and expect the best.
Breakfast
- a good 'n' greasy fry-up or hard hitting health food?
Years ago I ate meat with every meal and felt unwell if I did not.
But now I am one of the few people I know who is vegetarian - 90%
of the time. This is a habit I have learned due to a  belief
that we are much better off eating lots of vegetables and grains.
If you reduce meat-eating gradually you really go off it and don't
miss it at all.
Suit
or slob, what do you pull out from the wardrobe?
I find ties and suits constraining and avoid wearing them when I
can. Mostly I am a dull dresser - plain and comfortable, functional
and not too showy does the trick.
Name three things you'd never leave the house without?
Plasters - because I am continually cutting my fingers on things
(clumsy I guess), a pen - because I often want to jot an idea down
when out and about, and odd sweets tucked in coat pockets so I can
discover them unexpectedly.
Why
do you do what you do?
Not for the money. My father was a builder of houses and buildings
and I am a builder of things with information. The satisfaction
I feel when I do them well keeps me going.
What
makes your working day exciting?
People who run restaurants and pubs seem to me like characters out
of a novel. It is endlessly entertaining to find out who they are
and how  they
came to do what they do. I learn a lot from them and with them.
What
makes your working day a nightmare?
Computers. What's so frustrating is that it is usually something
very simple that makes them go wrong, but it takes ages to find
out what that might be because it is so hard to find good information
about a computer.
What's
the most rewarding thing about your work?
Seeing people enjoy and benefiting happily from the reviews we write
and offers we arrange for them.
Best
piece of advice you've ever been given?
I'm torn between 'Life is learning to free oneself from the influence
of others' and 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions.'
If
you had a magic wand, what would you be doing right now?
Wandering up a mountainside in some place, knapsack on my back,
enjoying the cool breezes and the open views, the quiet and the
smell of pine trees.
Name
your favourite tipple?
Apart from Darjeeling tea, I like a good port.
 And
your favourite restaurant?
Unfair question under the circumstances! I like a lot of places.
But as the author of three editions of Cambridge eating out guides
I can say what I say to people who ask me what the best restaurant
is: that depends on what you want. I personally like places that
serve lighter food with genuine and subtle flavours. Good value
and good service make me smile. I really dislike most mass produced,
tasteless food.
Who
would be your fantasy dinner date and why?
I rarely go out to dine with just my wife (as we have a big family),
but I can't think of anyone whom I'd enjoy being with more on a
date.
What
makes you switch the television on?
I am a sucker for action films and good science documentaries, the
latter perhaps because astronomy and physics and what not can often
be so well illustrated visually. As for action films, I guess at
heart I imagine myself to be heroic...(see next question).
Which
celebrity would play you in a film?
Jimmy Stewart!
All-time favourite book?
'The Periodic Table' by Primo Levi.
List
your top five desert island discs?
Sky
Beatles (any album)
The Corrs
Beethoven sonatas for piano and violin
Gershwin
If
you could write your own epitaph, what would it be?
Aimed to leave the world a better place.
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