Ten Questions: Mikael McManus

Published on Monday 6 October 2008 09:55

MIKAEL McMANUS, 32, from Baberton, owns Syndicate Thirteen, a production, design and management company based in Livingston

1 What is your earliest memory of Edinburgh? Staying with my uncle Andy, who had a flat on Rose Street. I always remember it being such a fun place to live.

2 What are your memories of school? We moved to Wuppertal in Germany when I was young, and I've got fond memories of that time. I remember hanging out a lot and playing with a tricycle. And when school was finished I would meet up with my mum in a hotel that she worked in. There, I would play cards with some of the staff in order to save enough coins to obtain the latest plastic soldiers from the street vending machine.

3 Where is your favourite place in Edinburgh and why? Cramond, without a doubt. I like to walk the dog by the sea and I remember years ago my parents taking me to the Brig Inn for dinner at the weekend. It was lovely.

4 What are the best things about Edinburgh? The architecture, the history and the layout. It's such an easy city to navigate and there is so much to see and do and it is still rich in previous times gone by.

5 What would you change about the city? The traffic, the mismatching buildings and the building the parliament is in.

6 Describe a perfect Edinburgh day/night out? Dinner at Inca, a live gig in the Grassmarket, then drinks with friends in the Tron.

7 Which sports interest you? Ice hockey was always a passion of mine – though I don't get much time for it now. I trained at the ice rink in Murrayfield and had many a good teenage year there with local teams. I still follow the progress of the Chicago Blackhawks today.

8 What was your most embarrassing moment? Probably at last year's Hard Rock Hell festival in Devon. I thought it would be funny to pretend I was a fighter jet to the tune of the Top Gun Anthem, then fell while machine-gunning a fellow flyer, breaking three ribs and damaging tendons in my knee. Cool I was not.

9 What is your greatest achievement? Serving my country in the 7th Parachute Regiment. I was in the regiment from 1993 to 2003, and I served in the Balkans and Northern Ireland, until I had to retire due to injury.

10 Sum up Edinburgh in three words Awe-inspiring, historic, ardent.