- Thank your Liebster Blog Award nominator on your blog and link back to the blogger who presented this award to you;
- Answer the eleven questions from the nominator;
- List eleven random facts about yourself:
- Present the Liebster Blog Award to up to eleven other blogs that you feel deserve to be noticed and leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have been chosen;
- Pass on the eleven questions to your nominees, or create new ones;
- Copy and paste the blog award on your blog.
1. What’s your favourite novel and what do you love about it? I loved Birdsong and have read it a couple of times, but then I enjoy reading novels about the Great War. To Kill A Mockingbird is one of my favourites, but my all-time favourite has to be Pride and Prejudice, I love drifting off into that other world so different from our own now and depicted beautifully by Jane Austen.
2. Do you have any pet peeves in fiction? Head-hopping in the same scene.
3. What are you most proud of? Apart from my children, it has to be when I signed with LBA Associates Ltd and not only the excitement of being represented by an agent, but by one as incredible as Luigi Bonomi. I still can’t quite believe it!
4. Your most and least favourite people in history? Likes:
- Sir Harold Gillies (17 June 1882 – 10 September 1960) New Zealand-born, otolaryngologist who is widely considered the father of plastic surgery and whose skills made so much difference to the injured soldiers of WWI.
- His cousin, Sir Archibald McIndoe (4 May 1900 – 11 April 1960) a pioneering New Zealand plastic surgeon who worked for the RAF during WWII and vastly improved the treatment and rehabilitation of badly burned aircrew.
- Bill Gates III, the chairman of Microsoft, whose software made all the difference to my working day and my writing, by making computers easy enough for the technophobes of this world - like me - to use them.
Dislikes: Any of vile people who’ve spent their lives causing misery and pain to others, including Adolf Hitler, Vlad the Impaler, Idi Amin and the like. *shivers*
5. The country, city or other place you’d most like to visit? New Zealand, because it sounds/looks magnificent and I’ve never been there.
6. Which five people would you like to meet (dead, alive, or fictional)?
- My grandfather who died when I was 21 months old because he achieved so much in his life and was such a fascinating character,
- Sir Harold Gillies - see below - because I'd be fascinated to chat with him about his achievements,
- My great-grandfather, Charles Wood, so that I could ask him for a photo for my dad.
- Richard Armitage, well, why not?
- Ernest Hemingway, when he lived in Paris, so that I could spend time with his friends and get to know them all a little bit.
7. What makes you laugh the most? Silly adverts on tv, probably. My children are always amazed when I laugh hysterically as the same thing a number of times.
8. If you could know the future, what would you wish for? I think the most exciting thing about the future is not knowing what is going to happen, but if I could have anything (apart from the usual health etc for my family) it would be to earn my living by writing books - incredibly successful ones, of course ;) – from my shed. Bliss.
9. If you won the lottery and could donate money to charity, which charity would you choose – and why?
- Holidays for Heroes - who provide free holidays in Jersey for past or present members of H.M.Armed Forces injured whilst on or as a result of active service. I don’t know anyone in the armed forces, but think this is a wonderful charity that has now provided over 900 holidays since their launch in 2008.
- Autism Jersey – because my god-son, one of the loveliest and most interesting people I know has Asperger syndrome.
- RNLI – because I admire their bravery. My uncle was in the RNLI for years, still is, and my father was rescued from the sea (although not by the RNLI) when his plane crashed thirty years ago off the coast of France.
10. Do you suffer from any little phobias or superstitions? I’m terrified of spiders and screamed so loudly the first time Grumps played with a spider that he is now scared of them too. Or at least he was for the first ten years of his life, I spotted him playing with one yesterday. Yes, I screamed!
11. What’s your favourite guilty pleasure? Taking the ferry to St Malo for lunch.
Eleven random facts about me…
- I stroked a rhino’s horn – and no, it’s not a euphemism and it was still on a live rhino!
- I can ride side-saddle.
- The headmistress of my first school told my father that I was charming, but that if I didn’t want to do something nothing could make me do it, so, in my father’s words, I was, ‘asked to leave’. He wasn’t impressed!
- I’ve never lived more than two miles away from the sea, apart from when I stayed at my mother’s house in South Africa for a few months.
- My favourite- food is either crab salad or hummus on seeded toast!
- My grandmother won a place in the final of the world's international beauty competition at the Albert-hall in the late twenties. The first prize was £1,000 and a five years' film contract, but instead of letting her go to the finals her mother took her on holiday to Jersey where she met and married my grandfather (the one mentioned above).
- The most incredible place I’ve ever visited was Pompeii, which felt like I was peeking into someone’s life who’d just popped out for a few minutes.
- Jersey is small and it’s good to get away every so often, but I love living here and never seem to find the time to see all the historical attractions it offers.
- I write letters by hand to my mum, although my handwriting isn’t too tidy.
- I’ve spent years searching online for a photo of my great-grandfather, Charles Wood, who was in the 21st Lancers, without success.
- The fastest horse I was ever lucky enough to ride was a racehorse owned by a diamond merchant years ago in South Africa.
Hmm, I’m not sure how interesting those eleven facts were…
My nominees are: (please feel free not to take this up):
Rosemary Gemmell - Reading and Writing Blog
Teresa Ashby - A Likely Story
Sue - Flowerpot Days
These blogs are fun, interesting and I never tire of visiting them.
Thank you again to Alison for nominating me for the Liebster Award.
11 comments:
Oh Debs, I did enjoy reading this post. Congratulations on the award and I think your eleven facts were very interesting, particularly the one about your grandmother - how lovely :-)
And thank you for nominating my blog :-) x
Thanks Debs - they were very interesting. I always like finding out about other people, particularly other writers! x
Thank you so much, Debs - I'm honoured to receive the award from you! Will do a post later in the week. Love all your great facts.
I think your facts were interesting and the rhino horn made me laugh.
Fab post - and I hear you on the spider phobia (shiver).
xx
Thanks, ladies. Teresa, Rosemary and Sue, I look forward to reading your answers. x
PS will do it next week!
flowerpot - great, I look forward to reading your post.
Congrats on the lovely award, Debs - what an interesting post X
Great to learn more about you, Debs. I'm still giggling over the rhino's horn. I'm very mature.
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