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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
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What is your earliest memory?
Going to big sports stadiums in Scotland to watch Celtic or Rangers, or maybe to watch Scotland play at Murrayfield, probably when I was about six or seven. Also, going on a family holiday to South Africa. We went to a snake farm in Durban, and I remember seeing lots of snakes like green mambas, and being told they could kill you. -
Who was or still is your mentor?
My earliest mentor was Hugh McIlvanney, the best sports journalist of the last generation. He was such a poet — from Ayrshire, like Robbie Burns. I hung on his every word. I worked with him briefly in Mexico City in 1986. As a photographer, Harry Benson, a Glaswegian — I’m showing my slight bias here, as a Scotsman. I’m accused sometimes of being a businessman as well as a photographer, but most creative artists are businesspeople these days, so Warren Buffett was always a hero. I listen avidly to everything he says. -
How fit are you?
I could be a great deal fitter. I probably travel on planes too much — 100 journeys a year doesn’t help. But I don’t get tired. One of the symptoms, perhaps, of a lack of fitness is needing a lot of sleep — I don’t need an awful lot of sleep. But I don’t jog. I don’t go to the gym. -
Tell me about an animal you have loved.
I’ve always been fascinated by wildlife, but it comes from a perspective of anonymity. So not individual animals, but species. -
Risk or caution, which has defined your life more?
Risk. I believe the big questions at the end of your life are not about what you have done but what you haven’t done. I’ve always thought the best thing to do is to go for it, roll the dice. -
What trait do you find most irritating in others?
Pomposity. Arrogance. Negativity. -
What trait do you find most irritating in yourself?
That I’ve never got better at golf. And maybe the inability to take stock and take a breather. -
What drives you on?
The pursuit of excellence doesn’t have a cut-off point. It should be relentless until you put your cameras away. Retirement is not an option. People get old when they retire. It would be good to leave as strong a legacy as possible. -
Do you believe in an afterlife?
No. But I’d love to be proved wrong. I just worry it’s going to be very crowded. -
Which is more puzzling, the existence of suffering or its frequent absence?
I find them to be in equilibrium. On the one hand, progression leads to less suffering, but on the other, you see history repeating itself again and again. I accept both. -
Name your favourite river.
It has to be the Clyde. While it tends to be populated by supermarket trolleys rather than salmon, it’s where I grew up, and part of the history and heritage of Glasgow and shipbuilding, which is my family background. -
What would you have done differently?
Other than not getting golf lessons when I was young, I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but the upshot of getting those things wrong has made me a better person. I wish I’d spent more time with my parents in their latter years. When someone passes, that’s it. You never get the chance again for more conversations with the people you love.
Fine art photography by David Yarrow is exclusively available from maddoxgallery.com
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