Category: MOVERS & SHAKERS

The Steeple Times asks Carfax Education founder Alexander Nikitich: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”

 

The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom.” What’s your guiding force?

Common sense.

 

“Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?

Every aggressor should be beaten with their own sword.

 

Kerry Katona was considered unacceptable in 2007. Who or what is unacceptable in 2013?

That so many people should continue to die in Syria because politicians in the West keep stoking the fire of civil war there so irresponsibly.

 

Tony Blair misses being Prime Minister. What do you miss most in your life?

I wish I had the time to read all the books that I keep buying.

 

What might you swap all your wealth for?

I’ve yet to make some wealth, but once I do, I would not mind swapping it for an ability to travel in time.

 

Donald Trump was once a case of: “If you owe the bank a thousand, they close you down; but if you owe the bank a billion, you own the bank.” What’s your view on the banking crisis?

If it went much deeper, the welfare state would have been dismantled. More people would have been forced to face the reality and realise that in order not to starve they have to become good at what they do and generally useful. Perhaps, the standards of service in this country would have then gone up.

 

What phrase or word do you most loathe?

One of my educational businesses is a tutoring agency and I cannot bear the ugly word ‘tutee’ that crops up in the industry more and more often. At Carfax, it is always ‘pupils’.

 

In the UK, some people consider charity to “begin at home.” What’s your view and what causes do you personally support?

For those who pay British taxes, I feel charity has to begin at home. After so much is taken from them pretty much at gunpoint by the government and then blatantly wasted, how can they have much left to be charitable with?

 

The judge in “Law Abiding Citizen” states: “I can pretty much do whatever I want” before being blown up whilst answering her mobile phone. What’s your view on the appropriate use of such devices?

They should always be in silent mode. People should learn that though they can be reached at any moment, they should not always be. Don’t be ruled by your mobile phone and don’t expect me to answer mine.  I am easier to reach on my landline.

 

If you could fill a carriage on The Orient Express, who would be your fellow passengers?

My school friends.

 

If you were unfortunate enough to end up on death row, what would be your last meal and where would you eat it?

It’d have to be at a restaurant named La Scogliera on a small island just off Sardinia. I’ll have spaghetti with bottarga, sea bass, and a bottle or two of Vermentino.

 

What time is it acceptable to consume the first drink of the day?

Any time you feel like it.

 

A Negroni, a martini or a cup of tea?

A martini.

 

Whose parties do you enjoy the most and why?

My old school friend’s birthday party because every year he puts so much thought into making sure everyone has a good time.

 

Who is the most positive person you know?

My mother. She always finds something good in everything and everyone.

 

What’s your most guilty pleasure?

A terribly fuel-inefficient 7-litre 20-year-old car.

 

If a tattoo were to sum you up, what would it be of?

Of a clear blue sky, as I would rather not be summed up by a tattoo.

 

If you were a car, what marque would you be?

A Horch or a Duisenberg.

 

Cilla Black presented “Surprise, Surprise.” Tell us the most surprising thing about you.

I am actually fairly open-minded.

 

What’s currently sitting on your mantelpiece?

It is Russian Christmas today, so all the Christmas and New Year cards are still there.

 

Alexander Nikitich studied at the Moscow Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) and then at Greene’s in Oxford, before taking a bachelor’s degree in PPE at Oxford. He has been engaged in educational consultancy since 1997, founded Carfax in 2005, and has also been involved in various community roles and is now a co-chairman of the Russian Speaking Community Council in Britain. 

 

For more information about Carfax Educational Consultants, go to: http://www.carfax-education.com

The Steeple Times asks drinks historian and master distiller Jared Brown: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”

 

The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom.” What’s your guiding force?

“Gin, vermouth, and a twist” is my personal guiding force. Please be sure the vermouth is fresh. Vermouth is a wine. It breathes, rots, and dies. It lasts only a few months in the fridge. That half-full bottle on a dusty shelf is a memorial to misspent vermouth. Time for a new one.

 

Professional is “Quality, price, and time”. It’s the eternal triangle. Want more of one? The others will change.

 

“Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?

Never trust a man with perfect hair or a woman with perfect nails.

 

Kerry Katona was considered unacceptable in 2007. Who or what is unacceptable in 2013?

I passed my driving exam thanks to Kerry Katona. I realised too late I was heading for a 30mph zone at 60mph. The examiner’s eyes were fixed on the speedometer and his pen was poised to tick the “fail” box. All he had to do was witness it as I passed the sign. I glanced out the window past him and blurted: “Hey, it’s Kerry Katona!” Of course it wasn’t, but he fell for it. Whilst I hit the brakes, he craned his neck the other way for a glimpse of her golden locks. For that I will always have a soft spot for her.

 

In 2013? Hang on, I’ll open up The Sun.

 

Tony Blair misses being Prime Minister. What do you miss most in your life?

Bialys. You can’t find a decent bialy in the whole of Britain. They’re so much better than bagels.

 

What might you swap all your wealth for?

A life as a drinks historian, writer and distiller.

 

Donald Trump was once a case of: “If you owe the bank a thousand, they close you down; but if you owe the bank a billion, you own the bank.” What’s your view on the banking crisis?

Advice from The Donald? He forgot to mention that if you owe the bank a billion, you inexplicably turn orange. Banker: It’s the only word in the English language where a B is so frequently mispronounced as a…

 

What phrase or word do you most loathe?

Phrase: “No sugar added.” You’d think that means unsweetened. Natural. No, it means instead of sugar we’ve chucked a load of truly rank artificial sweeteners in your drink.

Word: “Celebrity.” If that is what celebrity means today, get me out of here!

 

In the UK, some people consider charity to “begin at home.” What’s your view and what causes do you personally support?

I support cancer charities like Macmillan Cancer Support. It seems only right after beating the odds (http://www.macmillan.org.uk). I also support bartending and service industry charities like The Benevolent as charity does begin at home and in this life they are my family (http://www.thebenevolent.org.uk). I’m also a big supporter of British produce (http://www.flavourfirst.org).

 

The judge in “Law Abiding Citizen” states: “I can pretty much do whatever I want” before being blown up whilst answering her mobile phone. What’s your view on the appropriate use of such devices?

I’m not certain which device you’re asking about here so I’ll address both: 1) I feel there is absolutely no appropriate time or place to use an IED. Full stop. 2) If you are going to speak loudly on your mobile in public at least have the decency to keep the conversation highly personal and deeply embarrassing. One of my favourite moments was when a young executive type shouted: “How can they say they have trust issues?! It’s not like I’ve ever been convicted! No. No. Not even once.”

 

 

If you could fill a carriage on The Orient Express, who would be your fellow passengers?

My partner of two decades and a load of wonderful friends we have traveled with over the years, plus Stephen Fry. Hugh Laurie on piano, Raymond Blanc in the kitchen (I wonder if he’s ever experimented with dim sum?), Lenny Henry and Billy Connolly pulling pints (I leave the cocktails to my nearest and dearest) and David Suchet in character as Hercule Poirot.

 

If you were unfortunate enough to end up on death row, what would be your last meal and where would you eat it?

Street taquitos from a pushcart vendor I know in Tequila, Mexico. Best I’ve had. Plus food poisoning gets you an automatic delay of execution. So, presuming that goes to plan and gets me another last meal, I’d move on to my wife’s braised venison with blackcurrant butter in a large Yorkshire pudding.

 

What time is it acceptable to consume the first drink of the day?

A Julep never clashes with the toothpaste, unlike cappuccino. I love bartenders in New Orleans. Your average one knows how to make Milk Punch, Bloody Mary, Ramos Gin Fizz, French 75, and might give you an odd glance if you order one in the evening because they know those are breakfast drinks.

 

A Negroni, a martini or a cup of tea?

Why an either/or? Infuse Earl Grey into the gin for an hour for the Martini, or Rare Tea Company’s white tea into the gin for about 15 minutes for the Negroni. (3-4 tablespoons of tea per bottle of gin). Gin always helps the tea go down.

 

Whose parties do you enjoy the most and why?

Tony Conigliaro from 69 Colebrooke Row, London, because a big part of him has never grown up. Henry Besant from Strangehill Limited because he has never learned moderation in celebration and has the warmest, most welcoming family on the planet… As I live and work among professional partiers, this answer could become a book in itself.

 

Who is the most positive person you know?

What a wonderful question! In my perfect world, the tallest monuments in squares and parks wouldn’t have to go to military heroes (my world, no wars). Instead, there would be statues of the most positive and upbeat people. I would have to give this to Sam Galsworthy, one of my partners at Sipsmith. Or James Grundy there. Both fill a room with cheer. Then there’s Ryan Silbert in New York, whose positivity I studied and imitated as best I could, much to his surprise at being a role model nearly twenty years my junior.

 

What’s your most guilty pleasure?

Baileys. Does it get more guilty? Or pleasurable? But let’s just keep this between us.

 

If a tattoo were to sum you up, what would it be of?

A soapbox.

 

If you were a car, what marque would you be?

I’d like to be a Morgan but I’d probably wake up one morning, look in the mirror and realise I’d always been an MG.

 

Cilla Black presented “Surprise, Surprise.” Tell us the most surprising thing about you.

I made my first distillation when I was ten. I read that the American colonists repeatedly froze cider to concentrate the alcohol. So, I made cider (it wasn’t commonly available in the States at the time) and left it out in the snow for a few days, lifting out the ice every morning. It was an early age to learn a hard lesson about hangovers. By eleven, I started using bought base spirit, vodka, to make liqueurs instead. My mother was confused, but indulgent.

 

What’s currently sitting on your mantelpiece?

Alcohol: a lot of it. There are fresh batches of damson and wormwood vodka, sloe grappa, sloe Irish whiskey, bullace gin, venison-smoked gin, cherry-smoked gin, blackberry vodka. Bottles of Metaxa 7-star and 12-star. Havana Club Selection de Maestros. Rakomelo, Bergamot and sour cherry liqueurs from a little distillery in the Plaka, Athens. Green crème de menthe and white crème de cacao for the occasional Grasshopper Cocktail. An empty Seitz beer bottle circa late-1800s from my family’s lost-lost brewery (curse those Prohibition agents!). Sipsmith sloe gin and damson vodka.

 

Jared Brown is a a drinks historian and director of Mixellany Limited®, a consultancy and publishing company that specialises in “anything and everything to do with spirits and mixed drinks.” He is also the master distiller for Sipsmith Independent Spirits, the first copper-pot distillery to open within London’s city limits in two centuries.

 

Mixellany: http://www.mixellany.com

 

Sipsmith: http://www.sipsmith.com

 

The Steeple Times asks author Richard Mason: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”

 

The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom.” What’s your guiding force?

The quest for healthy pleasure.

 

“Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?

“The ungula has no tail” – an ancient Xhosa proverb meaning, approximately, that one should do things for oneself.

 

Kerry Katona was considered unacceptable in 2007. Who or what is unacceptable in 2012?

Todd Akin, who coined the phrase “legitimate rape” and said gay marriage would destroy civilisation.

 

Tony Blair misses being Prime Minister. What do you miss most in your life?

Being able to spend weeks on end doing nothing.

 

What might you swap all your wealth for?

I’m not sure who’d want all my credit card debt.

 

Donald Trump was once a case of: “If you owe the bank a thousand, they close you down; but if you owe the bank a billion, you own the bank.” What’s your view on the banking crisis?

It is wrong that the bankers got away with it. Have you seen the latest scandal involving UBS bankers, who manipulated the LIBOR rate for a decade, while pensioners, students and people with credit card debt suffered?  Why aren’t hundreds of people going to jail?

 

What phrase or word do you most loathe?

“Okay”.

 

In the UK, some people consider charity to “begin at home.” What’s your view and what causes do you personally support?

I set up the Kay Mason Foundation when I was 21 to help South African kids from tough backgrounds get great educations. It has been tremendously stressful at times, but also a source of pure joy.

 

The judge in “Law Abiding Citizen” states: “I can pretty much do whatever I want” before being blown up whilst answering her mobile phone. What’s your view on the appropriate use of such devices?

I hate mobile phones. I particularly hate mobile phones that don’t work properly, like my Blackberry.

 

 

If you could fill a carriage on The Orient Express, who would be your fellow passengers?

Amanda Foreman, Usain Bolt, Frederic Chopin, Irene Nemirovsky, Anderson Cooper, my partner Benjamin Morse, and Prince William.  I really would like him to be patron of my charity when Archbishop Desmond Tutu retires.

 

If you were unfortunate enough to end up on death row, what would be your last meal and where would you eat it?

I’d eat a meal of homemade pasta on the lawn of an Italian monastery.

 

What time is it acceptable to consume the first drink of the day?

I used to think it was 10am. Now I don’t drink.

 

A Negroni, a martini or a cup of tea?

Used to be a martini. Now it’s a cup of tea.

 

Whose parties do you enjoy the most and why?

I like Amaury Blow’s crazy theatrical balls, where people from all walks of life dress up and stay up all night. They’re always in incredible places and he goes crazy over the props.  His Napoleonic Ball at Berkeley Castle last summer was the perfect end to eight weeks of isolation as I started a new book.

 

Who is the most positive person you know?

My father.

 

What’s your most guilty pleasure?

The DKAs at Café Dominique on Spring Street in New York.  If you don’t know what they are, don’t find out.  Once you have your first bite, it’s too late.

 

If a tattoo were to sum you up, what would it be of?

I’d never get a tattoo.

 

If you were a car, what marque would you be?

Impossible to say.

 

Cilla Black presented “Surprise, Surprise.” Tell us the most surprising thing about you.

That I LOVE to be alone.

 

What’s currently sitting on your mantelpiece?

I wish I had one for something to sit on.

 

Richard Mason is a best selling author and philanthropist. His first novel, The Drowning People, was published during his first year at Oxford. It has been translated into 22 languages and his latest work, History of a Pleasure Seeker, is available on eLume complete with music and all manner of interactivity.

 

For more information about Richard Mason and his works, go to: http://www.richard-mason.org

 

For information on the eLuminated app of History of a Pleasure Seeker, go to: http://www.barol.com

 

For details on the Kay Mason Foundation and Lulutho, go to: http://www.kaymasonfoundation.org and http://www.lulutho.org

 

The Steeple Times asks restaurateur Michele Caggianese: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”

 

The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom.” What’s your guiding force?

My family and my background.

 

 “Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?

We don’t know what we don’t know in life.

 

Kerry Katona was considered unacceptable in 2007. Who or what is unacceptable in 2012?

Jimmy Savile and the all lot.

 

Tony Blair misses being Prime Minister. What do you miss most in your life?

My friends and family from my home town.

 

What might you swap all your wealth for?

My wealth is my son and my wife and I wouldn’t swap them for anything in the world.

 

Donald Trump was once a case of: “If you owe the bank a thousand, they close you down; but if you owe the bank a billion, you own the bank.” What’s your view on the banking crisis?

I do not think that we will come out of austerity very quickly. People need to be given a chance and banks should facilitate investment by providing support based on calculated risk.

 

What phrase or word do you most loathe?

“I will tell you what to do.”

 

In the UK, some people consider charity to “begin at home.” What’s your view and what causes do you personally support?

I support mainly restaurant industry related charities with the hope that they will make a difference.

 

The judge in “Law Abiding Citizen” states: “I can pretty do whatever I want” before being blown up whilst answering her mobile phone. What’s your view on the appropriate use of such devices?

A great tool if used with respect for others.

 

If you could fill a carriage on The Orient Express, who would be your fellow passengers?

People that have achieved the goals that they had set for themselves  in life, a few politicians and a few sportsman.

 

If you were unfortunate enough to end up on death row, what would be your last meal and where would you eat it?

My mamma parmigiana di melanzane “aubergine parmigiana.”

 

What time is it acceptable to consume the first drink of the day?

It depends of the day, company and situations you are in.

 

A Negroni, a martini or a cup of tea?

A glass of wine.

 

Whose parties do you enjoy the most and why?

My best friend’s stag do.

 

Who is the most positive person you know?

My grandmother.

 

What’s your most guilty pleasure?

A meal after work.

 

If a tattoo were to sum you up, what would it be of?

A lion: My zodiac symbol.

 

If you were a car, what marque would you be?

I like to think a Ferrari but I would probably be a Alfa Romeo.

 

Cilla Black presented “Surprise, Surprise.” Tell us the most surprising thing about you.

I do have a degree in electronics but I do not even know how to change a light bulb.

 

What’s currently sitting on your mantelpiece?

A photo of my village in Italy and of my little boy.

 

Michele Caggianese is the general manager of The Rib Room Bar & Restaurant at the Jumeriah Carlton Tower. He was voted the Hotel Restaurant Manager of the Year at the 2012 Hotel Cateys last month.

 

The Rib Room Bar & Restaurant, Jumeirah Carlton Tower On Cadogan Place, London, SW1X 9PY. Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7858 7250. Website: http://www.theribroom.co.uk