Penny speed meets... Lynn Rouse, editor, Post

What was your first ever job — and were you any good at it?
Catering assistant at RHS Wisley Gardens. Good? Let’s just say my great friend Beckie and I were known as the A-Team... our combined power and efficiency on the industrial dishwasher, resplendent in huge aprons and size 11 wellies, was a marvel to behold

If an MP3 player really could only hold three tunes, what would you select for the ultimate soundtrack to your life?
Life on Mars – David Bowie (the reason I fell in love with Bowie at age 14); You Get What You Give – New Radicals (escape to Australia 1999); Brain Damage/Eclipse – Pink Floyd (so hard to pick, but opted for the perfect end to the perfect album)

Who was your top teenage pin-up?
Mags from A-ha. Morten came a close second

My colleagues won’t know this about me but....
I once auditioned for the part of ‘Princess’ in the Brownie gangshow, only to be cast as the Wicked Witch. Telling?

Favourite book of all time?
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
In my line of work – there’s no such thing as a stupid question

What would be your chosen 
superpower?
Invisibility – both to listen in and for the quiet

If you could be Prime Minister for the day, what change would you instigate and why?
Boost our record on rehab by removing current financial disincentives for employers, while introducing tax breaks and making early intervention mandatory

How would a typical school report about you read?
“Should contribute more to classroom discussion” – I suspect my senior managers sometimes wish I hadn’t heeded their advice

What’s the most annoying thing people do in your office?
In an editorial sense, the erroneous and/or random use of apostrophes never fails to aggravate – that goes for PRs too

My last supper would comprise...
Medium rare fillet steak coupled with a large glass of Argentine Malbec, both from Gaucho

Who has been the most influential person in your life to date?
My dad

When I’m not working I like to...
Catch up around the UK/globe with my oldest and best friends for (typically wine-infused) laughter

Last film you saw?
The Ides of March – enjoyable if not remarkable, enhanced by its double dose of Ryan and George

Name your five ideal dinner party guests (dead or alive) noting what they bring to the party
Noel Fielding – hilarious and my guilty pleasure; Jane Austen – intrigued as to how a quiet country life could give rise to such rich wit and human perception; Bill Hicks – for his darkly funny satire, which would also ensure my own brand of sarcastic humour appeared positively light and fluffy; Germaine Greer –for a bit of feistiness, and to find out if it would be love or hate between the infamous feminist and our best-loved 19th century novelist; and Neil Diamond – for some late night crooning. Having witnessed him still pulling the ladies in concert at age 70, would he work his magic on Germaine or Jane?

Career high point to date?
At the risk of serious sycophancy, the last 10 years working alongside ‘insurance encyclopaedia’ Jonathan Swift – it’s been a privilege

If you could travel back in time, where would you go?
Miss Newmarket competition 1965

What do you say when strangers at a social gathering ask what you do for a living?
“I’m a journalist” (cue: excited engagement); “I write about insurance” (cue: visible deflation and eyes scanning for escape route)


Would you like to be probed by Penny? Get in touch via lynn.rouse@incisivemedia.com