Latest news with #agreeable
Irish Times
14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Prof Ian Robertson: ‘My father was more like a brother, and my brother was more like a father'
How agreeable are you? I'm probably excessively agreeable, but I'm also capable of being grumpy and bad tempered. If I'm involved in some project or some thinking, I find it hard to disengage from it. If I have to disengage from it, then my mind can be elsewhere, and it's when my mind is elsewhere that I could be grumpy. What is your middle name and what do you think of it? My middle name is Hamilton, and that's my mother's maiden name. I was brought up in Scotland, and it's a common tradition, a nice tradition, to take your mother's maiden name as your middle name. I like it. It reminds me of my mother, of course – Annie Hamilton, someone who was very, very intelligent, but who had to leave school at 14. All her life, she longed to be a nurse but never had formal training. To her great satisfaction, much later in her life, she ended up working as an auxiliary nurse and a care assistant. She adored that. Where is your favourite place in Ireland? My favourite place in Ireland has to be where I live, which is Dalkey. We've been here for 26 years, and I have to pinch myself every single day that I live somewhere so amazing, so beautiful, a proper community. And it is a mixed community as well. It's not all rich people. Describe yourself in three words. Driven. Dalkey. Likes-to-be-liked. READ MORE When did you last get angry? The thing that makes me most angry these days is what's happening in Gaza and Ukraine. I get angry with brutal men doing brutal things in the world. And that's real anger, not irritation, a profound anger at the ruthlessness of powerful men who lose track of all humanity. [ At the heart of Netanyahu's delusion is the belief that his interests are the same as Israel's Opens in new window ] What have you lost that you would like to have back? It sounds so pathetic in a way, and it's not smug, but the older I've got, I've been fortunate enough to remember only the gains and not the losses. There are things I don't do now that I could before. In my 60s, I ran a few half marathons, but then I had to get a new hip. I can still run, but not fast. That's not a loss, though – maybe it's relief. What is your strongest childhood memory? I may have been as young as three or four, and I'm on a bus with my parents to visit my brother and his friend, who were camping on the outskirts of Glasgow. I have this vivid feeling of a glorious summery evening, building a dam on a little stream with my brother. It was just sheer joy. Where do you come in your family's birth order, and has this defined you? I'm the second of two boys, but my brother is 10 years older than me. As we got older we became brothers, but during my childhood he was more like a dad, a kind of father figure. My father wasn't a hugely confident man but he was very affectionate, and I was very close to him as well, yet paradoxically he was more like a brother. It's funny, but right until this moment, it never occurred to me that my father was more like a brother and my brother was more like a father. What do you expect to happen when you die? The atoms in my body will spread across the cosmos from whence they came. I expect to have no consciousness or specific immortality, but I do have confidence in a continuation in chemical and informational form, beautifully scattered across the universe. When were you happiest? Now. I've never been more blessed and happier than I am at this time in my life. Which actor would play you in a biopic about your life? Oh, God, I'm terrible at actors. I'm trying to think … What about Brian Cox, who played Logan Roy in Succession? [ Want to understand what money does to your brain? Look at this photo Opens in new window ] What is your biggest career/personal regret? I didn't do my PhD until my late-30s, and that had positives as well as negatives, but career-wise, I wish I'd done it earlier in my life. Regret, however, is a useless emotion, and it becomes more useless the older you get. I'm just so lucky to have been married for over 40 years. If I hadn't met Fiona, I'm sure I'd have a lot more regrets to tell you about. I'm a lucky, lucky man. Have you any psychological quirks? The psychological quirk I would admit to having is that before arriving in Ireland, I had a strange affinity for it in my mind. I don't know where that came from. Normally, people come to Ireland, get to love the place and want to stay, but I had this strange attachment to the place before I ever came here, before I ever met anyone Irish. In conversation with Tony Clayton-Lea Ian Robertson will be at Dalkey Book Festival with Mark Little on Sunday
Irish Times
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Sarah Moss: ‘I'm a classic first child. A driven overachiever. Slightly neurotic'
How agreeable are you? You'd have to ask my family, but I think I'm fairly agreeable. I'd like to think I know which battles are worth fighting. What is your middle name and what do you think of it? My middle name is Kelly. It's actually my grandmother's maiden name. She was of Irish descent. Her father came over to Yorkshire in the late 19th century ... Nobody has ever called me Kelly. What is your favourite place in Ireland? The Burren. I encountered it for the first time when I was speaking at the Ennis Book Club Festival in March 2020, before we moved over to Ireland. Somebody came up to me at the book signing and said, 'Have you ever been to the Burren because from reading your books I think you'd really like it.' I said I hadn't, but that I'd always wanted to. She looked at her friend and said, 'Well, my friend and I go there every Saturday. Are you doing anything this afternoon?' I said I was flying out of Shannon at around six, and she said, 'Ah, sure, we'll get you back to Shannon by then.' So I just went off in a car with these two women I'd never met before, and we had an amazing adventure in the Burren. We did some hiking, they showed me a holy well and a ruined hermitage, and that amazing limestone landscape. As I was flying back through Birmingham that evening, lockdown happened, everything shut down, and that was the end of that for another few years. So it was absolutely the last moment I could have gone off in a car with two strangers and had a wonderful afternoon. I go to the Burren as often as I can – and those two women are now two of my closest friends in Ireland. Describe yourself in three words I was thinking about this. In the first piece I wrote for The Irish Times, I described myself as a bike-riding vegetarian feminist. So, yes, a bike-riding vegetarian feminist. I think they can put that on my gravestone. READ MORE When did you last get angry? A very long time ago. I'd have been in primary school, although I don't think I was much given to tantrums. I don't really do anger. Except when I'm on my bike and drivers nearly kill me, and then I get very uninhibited. I think I get angry only on my bike. What have you lost that you would like to have back? The confidence of my 20s. I think quite often, and probably as we get older, we become less sure about things. There's nobody so certain as a teenager, and I slightly miss that absolute conviction. I'm sure that I'm a kinder, gentler, and better person for not having that, but it made life very straightforward. Quite often, teenagers are right about things, albeit in a completely inexperienced kind of way. For most people, we've discovered the world is a bit more complicated than we thought; things aren't quite as black and white to us. What is your strongest childhood memory? Climbing mountains, mostly in the Lake District. I grew up in Manchester. My parents were very enthusiastic hikers, so they would collect us from school on a Friday, drive up to the mountains, and then we camped wild over the weekend. More than once, we woke up very early on Monday morning and were dropped back to school straight from the hills. Where do you come in your family's birth order, and has this defined you? I'm the oldest. How has it defined me? I'm a classic first child. A driven overachiever. Slightly neurotic. What do you expect to happen when you die? There's a Yorkshire folk song I used to sing with my grandfather – On Ilkla Moor Baht'at, and a line from it goes 'then the worms will come and eat you up ...' It is best belted out in a Yorkshire accent with your grandfather while driving across Yorkshire. Nobody knows what's going to happen, do they? When were you happiest? I'm pretty happy these days, but there's no absolute measure of happiness, is there? I now live in a place I really love. I have good friends within walking distance, and my kids are doing well. There is a reasonable level of contentment within my life. Globally, clearly not, but I'm turning 50 later this year, and I think that could also be a good time. Which actor would play you in a biopic about your life? I was going to look up actors, but I forgot. Morven Christie reads my audiobooks so beautifully with the right accents and tones, so let's go with her. What is your biggest career/personal regret? It's not really a regret, but I wonder what would have happened if I hadn't gone straight into academia, because at this point in my life, I've been on one end or the other of full-time education without a break since I was four. I have a strange idea that I might have been quite good in the emergency services, as I'm very good in a crisis. Personal regret? No, because you always learn from it. Have you any psychological quirks? How long have you got? I like rhythmic things – running, knitting , sewing, walking. Anything that's involved with iambic, heartbeat footsteps, I find very comforting. In conversation with Tony Clayton-Lea Sarah Moss's new book, Ripeness, is published by Pan Macmillan
Irish Times
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Actor Ingrid Craigie on who would play her in a biopic: ‘Oh no, another part I'm not going to get!'
How agreeable are you? I think I am very agreeable. Sometimes maybe too much. I'm collaborative by nature; that's how I work best and how I negotiate life. I'm open to other people's opinions. I find conflict difficult, and the power of language to wound and deeply distress people. Language is so much a part of what I do, so I think I'm very sensitive to that. What's your middle name and what do you think of it? My middle name is Emily. I was named after my grandmother, my father's mother, who died before I was born. I've always liked the name. Where is your favourite place in Ireland? There's Mayo and Kerry and west Cork, but I always go back to Howth Head because we lived in Sutton for a while when I was growing up, when I was about 16. If I ever leave Ireland for work, I always have to go there and walk to get that sense – the smell, feel and sound of it – of being on the edge of the country. Describe yourself in three words. Empathetic, resilient, optimistic. READ MORE When did you last get angry? What makes me angry is the idea of children living in fear and pain, children who are clearly powerless. It makes me feel almost ill. I get distressed more than angry by seeing people being belittled, like the way Trump belittled Zelenskiy . I find it incomprehensible that people can behave in such an arrogant and ignorant way. What have you lost that you would like to have back? I don't think of things that I've lost, but of the people who have died, particularly people who have died too young. Obviously, the people that you love, like parents. I try to live in the present. I try not to waste the time I have. I'm very much aware that as the decades go by, I have less of it. What's your strongest childhood memory? I had a happy childhood, but my strongest memory is a poignant one. When I was seven, my mother was in quite a serious car crash. She was in hospital for, I think, a couple of weeks, but I never visited her. While she was in hospital, I went into my parents' bedroom. There was a blouse or a cardigan of hers resting over a chair. I remember picking it up, and her scent, her perfume, was on it. She always wore the same perfume – L'Air du Temps by Nina Ricci. Even now I get emotional thinking about it, that sense of 'When is she coming back?' Where do you come in your family's birth order, and has this defined you? I'm the second of two, so I'm sure it defined me. I came into the world very sunny and optimistic, but I think it's easier for a second child. My brother is four years older than I am, and apart from the early years when you just irritate each other, once we got into our teenage years, we became very close – and still are. I remember we'd have long, long talks about life and all sorts of things that were going on. What do you expect to happen when you die? It is the ultimate mystery, isn't it? In recent years I've had a sense of deep connection with people who have gone before. I am comforted by that sense because we never actually disappear forever, do we, because on a cellular level, we will always be here. When were you happiest? I know how fortunate I am. I'm very lucky to have good health, and I love my work and the people I love, and I have the ability to enjoy that. Do I have a reasonably constant level of contentment? Yes, I would say so. Which actor would play you in a biopic of your life? Oh no, another part I'm not going to get! Well, Zara Devlin is playing a younger me at the moment in Lovesong at the Gate. She's a terrific actor, so I'll let her do it. What is your biggest career/personal regret? In 2006 I was in a production of The Faith Healer at The Gate. It was directed by Jonathan Kent and featured Ralph Fiennes and Ian McDiarmid. I knew before we did it in Dublin that the show was going to Broadway, and that for various reasons – visas, Equity, and so on – they would not get permission for me to go. You don't know before you start rehearsing a play if you think it might be your part. Will you be able to do it? Will you be good? However, it turned out to be one of the most wonderful experiences in my theatre career. We finished the run, and they went to New York, but it broke my heart. It was like a love affair being torn apart for no good reason, and it took me a long time to get over that. Personal regret? I take responsibility for the choices in my personal life, and I'm absolutely at ease with those. Sometimes I think I could have done things differently, and obviously, I regret if I caused pain to people. What psychological quirks do you have? I'm not superstitious, but I cannot not salute magpies. You have to salute them or it'll be bad luck. I don't believe that, of course, but I still have to do it. In conversation with Tony Clayton-Lea. Ingrid Craigie performs in Lovesong, Gate Theatre, Dublin, until Sunday, June 15th,
