1 What is your earliest memory of Edinburgh? Watching the tattoo on TV as a little boy. We lived in Ayrshire and my father let me stay up to watch the pipers.
2 What are your memories of school? I went to school
in Ayr and our school was near the sea and we were taught swimming in it. I did as little as I could get away with at school. I wasn't a great academic at school – I got more into that at university.
3 Where is your favourite place in Edinburgh and why? The Water of Leith, particularly the section under Dean Bridge. I used to live near there and went walking there with my kids when they were tiny.
4 What are the best things about Edinburgh? I like its walkability, you can walk through most parts of the city centre. I also like the Jekyll and Hyde aspect of it – the spiritual and academic.
5 What would you change about the city? I would like to see it enjoy developing more. I think it is quite backward looking. I would like it to be not always looking to the past.
6 Describe a perfect Edinburgh day/night out? For the full day I'd go for a walk up to the castle with my wife and kids and go down just as dusk was breaking. I would try to get the kids to go home on their own but that might not happen!
7 What sports interest you? I like tennis and mountain biking but I think my favourite sport has to be skiing.
8 What was your most embarrassing moment? I was driving a friend from the city centre through to Glasgow, this was when I had first moved to the town. I was impatient and started driving up side roads. In the end I wound up going back to the city centre but this time going in the wrong direction!
9 What is your greatest achievement? I think my kids. Bringing up kids in a city like Edinburgh is a privilege. You've got the balance of Corstorphine Hill but five minutes away you've got shops and cafes.
10 Sum up Edinburgh in three words Walkable, intriguing, cold.
The full article contains 394 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
