The Last Word: Adrian Richards

0
2044

Name: Adrian Richards

Company: BF Adventure

Job title: Chief Executive Officer

What did you want to be when you were young? A fighter pilot or failing that a lollipop man!

What was your first full time job? Apprentice cabinet maker and antique restorer.

What is your best quality? A positive outlook.

What is your worst quality? Needing to remind myself that Rome wasn’t built in a day!

What is your favourite book? The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

What is your favourite film? Big Wednesday.

What is your favourite restaurant? I can’t recall the name but it’s a local fish restaurant in Sagres Portugal, a sizzling seafood skewer followed by a chocolate mousse to die for!

How do you like to relax? In the ocean.

If you could build a house anywhere in the world where would it be? On the beach at Taranaki in New Zealand.

If you could be a superhero, what superpowers would you like to possess? Time travel and gills – the ability to breath underwater.

Who was your teenage pin up? Jet from Gladiators.

Can money buy happiness? No but a little helps to oil the wheels.

Most annoying TV personality? Harry Hill.

What has been the best moment in your career? Being offered the CEO role at BF Adventure.

What has been the worst moment in your career? Having to close one of my hostel sites whilst acting as operations manager Cornwall and Devon for the YHA.

What do you begrudge spending money on? Car parking in Cornwall.

If you only had £1 left in the entire world, what would you spend it on? A lottery ticket.

What’s the best thing about Cornwall? Its coastline, stunning views, great beaches and the surf.

What is the most valuable lesson you have learned in life? Every cloud has a silver lining.

What makes you happy? Family and a day at the beach.

What makes you angry? Rudeness.

If you could invite any two people for dinner, who would they be and why would you invite them? Stephen Fry – as the fountain of all knowledge and Laird Hamilton – Hawaiian extreme waterman – to hear what it feels like to face a moving mountain of water.

What could you not live without? My family and time in the ocean.

What’s the greatest invention ever? The World Wide Web – for its endless potential and for bringing the planet together (key driver in worldwide political change and in improving human rights amongst other things).

What’s your favourite holiday destination? Bali, Indonesia.

When is honesty not always the best policy? Trick question!?

What’s your #1 ambition? To still be making a difference and enjoying it throughout the rest of my life.

What was your biggest mistake in life? Waiting six years to propose to my wife!

Describe yourself in three adjectives: Positive, intuitive, adventurous.

This article first appeared in the August/September 2011 issue of Business Cornwall magazine