FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TERRY WAITE
What are you working on?
Projects with the homeless, prisoners, and supporting overseas development. I also have several books on the stocks: a humorous travel book, volumes one and two of a comic novel, and one of my own poetry.
When were you at your happiest?
When I realised what lovely grandchildren I had, and how my son and his wife were much better parents than I ever was.
What is your greatest fear?
I hate to feel that I have let people down. Also, if anything bad were to happen to those I love.
What is your earliest memory?
Towards the end of the Second World War, I sheltered in my parents’ bed as enemy aircraft thundered overhead. I remember being really afraid.
What do you most dislike about yourself?
My inability to organise my time better. There are so many projects that I would like to engage in.
Who has been your greatest influence?
For compassion and forgiveness, my friend Desmond Tutu. I have just reviewed his latest book on that subject, and it’s brilliant.
What is your most treasured possession?
My iPad. I use it every day.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
Weight, weight and more weight!
What trait do you most deplore in others?
Ruthless insensitivity to the sufferings of others, no matter how that suffering is caused. This world can be a very cruel place.
What is your favourite book?
Any book by the late Tony Judt, historian, philosopher and very brave man. He continued writing even when he was immobile with motor neurone disease.
Your favourite film?
The Ladykillers, starring Alec Guinness, or any of the Ealing comedies.
Your favourite music?
JS Bach was a wonderful tunesmith, so anything composed by him.
And your favourite meal?
Fish pie with lots of parsley sauce and green veg, or shepherd’s pie topped with grated cheese – I can’t possibly limit myself to one choice.
Who would you most like to come to dinner?
Someone who had never received an invitation to eat out and longed for some good home cooking. I would do my best – even home-baked bread.
What is the nastiest thing anyone has ever said to you?
In captivity I faced a mock execution and was told I had five hours to live – nerve-racking.
Do you believe in aliens?
It is quite possible there are other forms of life in the universe. One meets them occasionally in certain parts of the British Isles, which shall remain nameless.
What is your secret vice?
I was brought up in Cheshire, and so love good cheese. I could live on home-baked bread, cheese and onion. Well, at least for a while. Followed by very dark chocolate.
Do you write thank-you notes?
As a child I was forced to. I didn’t like it then but I don’t mind it so much now, so I always write.
Which phrase do you most overuse?
‘I beg your pardon’ – I am slightly deaf in one ear.
What would most improve the quality of your life?
I have large feet and have the most dreadful time trying to find really comfortable shoes. Also a bath long enough for my 6ft 7in frame.
Tell us something we don’t know about you.
I learnt to speak in public by standing on a soapbox in Hyde Park and facing countless hecklers. I remember being terrified.
What would you like your epitaph to read?
‘He tried to understand others because he knew he needed understanding himself’.
Terry Waite is at Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, for the Essex Book Festival on 27 March. For tickets: 01245-684723. His book, Taken On Trust, is published by Coronet, London, priced £10.99.
Projects with the homeless, prisoners, and supporting overseas development. I also have several books on the stocks: a humorous travel book, volumes one and two of a comic novel, and one of my own poetry.
When were you at your happiest?
When I realised what lovely grandchildren I had, and how my son and his wife were much better parents than I ever was.
What is your greatest fear?
I hate to feel that I have let people down. Also, if anything bad were to happen to those I love.
What is your earliest memory?
Towards the end of the Second World War, I sheltered in my parents’ bed as enemy aircraft thundered overhead. I remember being really afraid.
What do you most dislike about yourself?
My inability to organise my time better. There are so many projects that I would like to engage in.
Who has been your greatest influence?
For compassion and forgiveness, my friend Desmond Tutu. I have just reviewed his latest book on that subject, and it’s brilliant.
What is your most treasured possession?
My iPad. I use it every day.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
Weight, weight and more weight!
What trait do you most deplore in others?
Ruthless insensitivity to the sufferings of others, no matter how that suffering is caused. This world can be a very cruel place.
What is your favourite book?
Any book by the late Tony Judt, historian, philosopher and very brave man. He continued writing even when he was immobile with motor neurone disease.
Your favourite film?
The Ladykillers, starring Alec Guinness, or any of the Ealing comedies.
JS Bach was a wonderful tunesmith, so anything composed by him.
And your favourite meal?
Fish pie with lots of parsley sauce and green veg, or shepherd’s pie topped with grated cheese – I can’t possibly limit myself to one choice.
Who would you most like to come to dinner?
Someone who had never received an invitation to eat out and longed for some good home cooking. I would do my best – even home-baked bread.
What is the nastiest thing anyone has ever said to you?
In captivity I faced a mock execution and was told I had five hours to live – nerve-racking.
Do you believe in aliens?
It is quite possible there are other forms of life in the universe. One meets them occasionally in certain parts of the British Isles, which shall remain nameless.
What is your secret vice?
I was brought up in Cheshire, and so love good cheese. I could live on home-baked bread, cheese and onion. Well, at least for a while. Followed by very dark chocolate.
Do you write thank-you notes?
As a child I was forced to. I didn’t like it then but I don’t mind it so much now, so I always write.
Which phrase do you most overuse?
‘I beg your pardon’ – I am slightly deaf in one ear.
What would most improve the quality of your life?
I have large feet and have the most dreadful time trying to find really comfortable shoes. Also a bath long enough for my 6ft 7in frame.
Tell us something we don’t know about you.
I learnt to speak in public by standing on a soapbox in Hyde Park and facing countless hecklers. I remember being terrified.
What would you like your epitaph to read?
‘He tried to understand others because he knew he needed understanding himself’.
Terry Waite is at Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, for the Essex Book Festival on 27 March. For tickets: 01245-684723. His book, Taken On Trust, is published by Coronet, London, priced £10.99.