Meet the team
Paul Miley
10 Minutes with Paul
Everything you need to know about Paul's business acumen and delivery here, but to get to know him, we asked Paul the Questions from Inside the Actor's Studio, a set of questions first used by Bernard Pivot in France, popularised by James Lipton and the brilliant answers given by Hollywood actors. If you've not got 30' to spare, do not search it on YouTube. But read Paul and Matt's answers, then get back to work. That's fair. Let's hear from Paul:
1. What Is your favourite word?
Heft - makes me smile every time I can use it
2. What is your least favourite word?
Nice - lacks imagination
3. What turns you on, creatively, spritiually or emotionally?
A moment of total physical and mental engagement - riding a 'bike the wrong side of 130mph on the Mountain section of the Isle of Man TT course would do it
4. What turns you off?
Selfishness
5. What is your favourite curse word?
Feck - the Irish use it with beautiful abandonment
6. What sound or noise do you love?
Morning woodland, ideally with a light shower of rain
7. What sound or noise do you hate?
The quietest little snap as a bolt lets go 'cause it's been over tightened; preceding the hours of engineering distress and self-criticism for not using the torque wrench
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
Park ranger, mountain guide, search and rescue
9. What profession other than your own would you not like to attempt?
Opera singer
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Peraly Gates?
'Uh-oh'
Matt Miley
11' with Matt
Matt's a little different, so his approach to this task is rather indicitative. It's also why you want him on your projects.
"So I have an overly inqusitive disposition, and found it all too simple for a TV show to come up with such an insightful, punchy list of questions, able to reveal such deep inner truths. So I went down the necessary internet rabbit-holes to find out that there was much more to this.
The questions that Lipton cites are not the Proust Questions. And the questions Proust answered are actually in a girl's parlour-game book... Twice. And the contents theirin contain none of the actual questions we know.
Wait, what? Proust? Marcel Proust?
The list of 10 questions Paul answered were popularised by Inside the Actor's Studio Host, James Lipton. Lipton always gives credit for this list to French talk show host Bernard Pivot; he often mentions that the list originally came from French novelist Marcel Proust (1871–1922).
Proust did not actually create the questionnaire that frequently has his name attached, though he did famously answer two versions of it (once at age 13, and a second time at age 20), and thereby gave the lists a certain notoriety.
The lists started as a parlor game, and their original author is unknown. As it turns out, Lipton’s list differs in three questions from Pivot’s, and neither Lipton’s list nor Pivot’s has a single question in common with either of Proust’s! If you want the full four lists (roughly translated from french in some cases, let me know, it's a great ice-breaker.)
So, in the spirit of lookng at things a little differently, i've chosen to answer the Proust list, with a smattering of Pivot's flair."
1. What is your favorite drug?
Blimmin' eck, Pivot, I can see why Lipton swerved that one. I'll take adrenalin. Fast skiing and fast motorbikes all day, please.
2. Who would you like to see on a new banknote?
Wall-E. A fake robot is what humanity has needed to pay more attention of for some time. Weird.
3. If you were reincarnated as some other plant or animal, what would it be?
If we are playing the long-game, you be hard pushed to look past dolphin, shark or bird of prey. Just for the sheer enjoyment of flying, I'll go falcon.
Marcel Proust’s Questionnaires ( the highlights, you haven't got all day)
At age 13:
1. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Heathrow Airport Arrivals
2. Where would you like to live?
I live on the Bodensee, and spend my winters teaching and ski guiding in Lech, Austria. So i'm fortunate to say i live exactly where i'd like
3. What quality do you most admire in a man?
Being truly humble as a master in a given practice
4. What quality do you most admire in a woman?
Seeing bad-ass women on skis taking the boys down a peg. Happy to say my better half does this professionally, with a big, innocent smile across her face.
5. Who would you have liked to be?
At age 15, I was presented an opportunity to train to become a professional showjumper. What might've been...
At age 20:
6. What do you value most in your friends?
Considered listening, then telling you what you need to hear, not what you want.
7. Who are your heroes in real life?
Shane McConkey - famous for being one of the pioneers of freeskiing/off-piste skis, but Shane is my hero because of his attitude to life. Never took himself too seriously, and tried to make people laugh at all times. RIP, Shane.
8. What natural gift would you most like to possess?
It would be ridiculously cool to have ultra-marathon cardio... And a full bill of health in all of my joints and ligaments to enjoy running up and down mountains. Come to think of it, I'll take an injury full-reset and crack on, I'd settle for that!
9. How would you like to die?
The official answer is old age, after my better half (it would be selfish to go first, apparently). Other options I am ok with are ski and motorbike based, where seconds before I was at my absolute happiest. Even the 'oh feck' moment is oddly enjoyable. I'll take old age in my sleep though, thanks.
10. What is your motto?
The mass of men lead lives of silent desperation.
Burj
Cute, right? One of 6 animals between Paul and Matt. Cats, Dogs and Horses are covered, from Giant pedigree to unwanted street dog.
Matt is also training to be an animal behaviorist, and Paul's wife works in Pets As Therapy; So we really do mean it when we say we care about Pet.
