In our new feature where we get to know more about members of our team, we start with our Managing Director, Jonathan Pidduck. We asked him to share three things about himself which people might not know…
“The first is that I once appeared on “The Weakest Link” with the notoriously confrontational Anne Robinson. I did my homework in advance, reading her autobiography so that I could come back at her with (relatively!) appropriate jokes when I got the expected grilling from her. We were told before filming, however, that any such quips were likely to be edited out and would only make her worse, so I decided against them.
Filming was something of an ordeal as she was very much true to her onscreen character. Everyone had to introduce themselves at the beginning, and she became very upset that one of the contestants said “hi” before introducing himself as she did not think this was appropriate, telling him so in no uncertain terms.
Perhaps my most unfortunate contribution to the show took place during breaks in filming. As I was unable to tease Anne Robinson with the embarrassing stories she had related in her autobiography, I decided to share them with the other contestants instead. After sharing one or two particularly embarrassing episodes, a fellow contestant pointed out to me that I was still wearing a microphone and the whole studio could hear what was being said! From memory I was eliminated in the very next round by a quiz-mistress so cross that I was made to do the Walk of Shame twice!
The second thing about me which people might not know is that I have written a number of books, most of which are in the humorous fantasy and humorous horror genres. My proudest moment was when the first of these was briefly sandwiched between a Stephen King novel and “The Handmaids Tale” by Margaret Atwood in the Amazon Contemporary Fantasy charts. I would like to say that this was my “fifteen minutes of fame” but I suspect that fifteen seconds was nearer the mark.
The third thing, going back a very, very long way in my past, was that I ran away from school on my very first day there. I was only five, and lived a good ten to fifteen minutes walk away, so it was quite an achievement in a way! I still remember looking back over my shoulder every so often to see if the teachers were coming after me. I remember even more clearly my sense of outrage when my father took me back in again so that my teacher could sit the whole class in a circle and tell them what a naughty child I was! I have noticed that the gates of the school concerned have been locked during lessons for the last forty years or so, something for which I claim full credit. Fortunately, I have never been tempted to run away from work so your files are safe with me!
There is one further event which I would like to share with you which ties in with one of the stories above. I previously worked as a Partner at “Gambrills” in Folkestone. After leaving work one cloudy winter’s evening, I found that my car would not start. I called the AA and was told that someone would come out to help me, but an hour later no one had arrived. By now it was raining heavily. I called the AA again and they told me that they were having a particularly busy evening but someone would be with me as soon as possible. I called again thirty minutes later, to be told much the same thing. Thoroughly fed up by now, I told them that there was a pub ten minutes walk away and I would go and wait there, asking that they telephone me when they were on their way so I could come back to the car.
What seemed like ages later, I finally received a call that the patrol was on its way. Tired, frustrated and hungry, I made my way out of the pub to return to my car in the torrential rain. To make my evening seem worse still, as I left the pub I passed a mischievous client of mine who had evidently watched my poor showing on television a couple of months earlier. As I made my way out into the dark and the rain, he gave me a wink and announced loudly to the whole pub those six immortal words:
“You are the weakest link. Goodbye!”