Ten Questions: Alastair Dodds

1 What is your earliest memory of Edinburgh? As a child, I remember wet Sundays in the (then) Royal Scottish Museum and dry Sundays looking at the ships in Leith Docks.

2 What are your memories of school? When I started at George Heriot's School I was in awe of the traditions and great age of the school.

Later, I appreciated what a privilege it was to attend such a great school.

3 Where is your favourite place in Edinburgh, and why? I love the views from the tops of all the Edinburgh hills.

I often go up the Braid Hills just to look at the city and the Forth beyond.

4 What are the best things about Edinburgh? I think that the culture and cultural institutions are fantastic.

Also, the ability to easily escape the city with open country and the seaside just minutes away from the suburbs of the city is a really big plus.

5 What would you change about the city? I would greatly improve facilities for cycling to make it safer for people to cycle to work or school.

6 Describe a perfect Edinburgh day/night out. A night out with my wife, with an early meal in Morningside followed by a visit to the Dominion cinema.

7 Which sports interest you? I used to race motorcycles and I still enjoy watching the racing on television.

Now I fly gliders in Fife and go skiing abroad when I can.

8 What was your most embarrassing moment? As a child I left all my birthday presents on a Corporation bus and I was made to wait until the bus had returned from the terminus to find out if they were still there; they were.

9 What is your greatest achievement? At work, it is probably successfully moving Concorde by land and sea from Heathrow to the National Museum of Flight Scotland.

10 Sum up Edinburgh in three words. Great big village.

Alastair Dodds can be heard on the BBC Radio Scotland programme Hooked on History, which will be broadcast at 11.30am tomorrow.