JW about board

While at school in Norway, at the RCNUWC, I learnt how to SCUBA dive. I loved it so much I went every day and qualified as a PADI Rescue Diver.

I played basketball at University, and was objectively rubbish at it. But I met the best people there, and every week on a Wednesday night, we would sing karaoke at the student bar, the Three Tuns, leaving me with a very croaky voice for my Thursday radio show.

I'm a doctor! Not the kind that could help in a medical emergency... but I got my PhD from Southampton University in the UK in 2018. My research was on the uses of new technologies for peacebuilding. I got to travel ot Burundi for my fieldworks - one of the most wonderful experiences of my life. I also co-founded a company during that time and met some of the most inspiring people.

I lived in Lausanne for a couple of years around 2004 where I worked for the International Volleyball Federation. I moved into a flat by myself for the first time and bought this sofa (Bretz, La Ola). It was so big they had to lift it through the window (luckily I lived on the first floor), and when I moved out I had to find a tenant willing to take the sofa with the place!

When I was at university in London (at the LSE), I wrote a soap opera for the radio. We started recording it and I edited a few episodes... It was called "Houghton Street" and I knew then that I would be a writer one day.

I ran for local elections in my Swiss home town when I was 20. The night before the campaign photo shoot, I decided my bob needed a trim, but when I got to my hair dresser's (it was a walk-in service) they were about to close and the only person left was their apprentice. In a panic, I begged her to try to cut my bob back into shape. With literal trembling hands, she spent an hour and a half trying to even it out......... and it ended up above my ears. And the result ended up plastered all over town, and in the papers for months! My hair did grow back... and I got elected. I did cause a mini scandal by quitting a few weeks later as I moved to Wales.

Reading Les Fleurs du Mal when I was 14 was the first time I felt truly moved by poetry.'L'albatros' was one of my favourites at the time. There are a few English translations here.

Les Fleurs du Mal

By Charles Baudelaire

I spent most of my summers between the ages of 12 and 18 surfing on Rhossili beach. When I wasn't in the water, I was hiking the hills overlooking the Worm's Head. The Gower in Wales is one of the most beautiful places I've been to.