Stuart Metcalfe

Stuart Metcalfe, operations director, Hilton National North and Associate Hotels, reveals all

1. What was your best subject at school?

English - I can still recite Siegfried Sassoon

2. What was your first job?

A newspaper round, aged 14

3. What was your first job in catering?

Company trainee with Commonwealth Holiday Inns of Canada

4. What do you normally have for breakfast?

A Slim Fast shake

5. What do you do to relax?

Motorcycling/mountainbiking

6. Which is your favourite restaurant?

Paris House in Woburn, Bedfordshire.

7. What is your favourite drink?

Gin and bitter lemon or Gevrey-Chambertin

8. What ingredient do you hate the most?

Mussels

9. What do you always carry with you?

My time manager (except at weekends)

10. How would you best describe your desk?

A clear space to do quality work

11. Which person in catering have you most admired?

Richard Branson

12. Which person in catering has given you the greatest inspiration?

Ray Pottinger, director of IT at Scotts Hospitality

13. Cast away on a desert island, what luxury would you take?

My garage and all the tools in it

14. What newspapers do you read?

I don't normally make time - I watch the news or listen to the radio

15. If not yourself, who would you rather have been?

Giacomo Agostini - famous motorcyclist

16. If you hadn't gone into catering, where do you think you would be now?

A journalist - I did the pre-entry course prior to going into catering

17. Describe your ultimate nightmare?

A double booking for a wedding that you only find out about when both parties turn up

18. Where and when was your last holiday?

Australia, Christmas 1994

19. Tell us a secret…

It's not really a secret, but most people ignore it. My motto is: "if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail"

20. What irritates you about hotels?

Lack of attention to detail, for example full ashtrays or broken light bulbs

21. When was the last time you had a hamburger?

A few weeks ago. I finished work late and stopped off at McDonald's