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Welcome to the second installment of our blog series getting to know members of the �ڹϳ���Content Team through a series of quick fire questions. If you’ve not already read part 1, catch up here. Today we’re chatting with 3 members of the team, a couple of whom you may have chatted to in the past or met at various events…

James A – Contributor Experience Manager

What’s your favourite place on earth?

“Ahh. Favourite place on earth? There’s so many places. Where we went on our honeymoon to Mauritius was the best place I’ve been to. The hotel we stayed in was amazing, it couldn’t get any better for me. I love that, love New York, love London…Ibiza has a place in my heart.”

What was the first album you bought?

“The first album I bought, I’ve got a feeling it was Michael Jackson – Bad. Classic, on vinyl…still got it”

You get stuck in a lift with 3 people (dead or alive) who are they?

“Keith Floyd, Tom Hanks and Arsène Wenger…sorry three men. I’m not being sexist. They’re just the 3 people I’d love to have a chat with”

What is your favourite movie quote?

“Ah the impossible question, I’ve got quite a few”

“Once you’re a parent, you’re the ghost of your children’s future” – Cooper, Interstellar

What’s the last song that was stuck in your head?

“Erm, probably the Go Jetters theme tune from CBeebies”

What’s your favourite TV show?

“Of all time? Sopranos…number 1”

Do you have an unusual celebrity crush and if so who is it?

“David Beckham because I’m happily married with a wife and son, but then everyone fancies David Beckham. Also, when I was younger it was Sophie Ellis-Bextor – everyone used to ask me ‘what is that about?’”

What’s your favourite ’90s jam?

“What as in like a song? That’s a great question. You’ve got stuff like ‘No Diggity’ by BlackStreet that’s a 90’s jam”

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

“I’ve got quite a few. My pet peeve at the moment, I’ve had numerous over the years, is people saying that my barbecue isn’t a proper barbecue because it’s gas. I mean I’ve got a charcoal barbecue and I love my charcoal barbecue but then I’ve also just got a big new gas barbecue which is the love of my life. And then you’ve got people like Ben (Alamy’s content ops manager) for example, I’ll post a photo on Instagram showing all this amazing food I’ve cooked, and he’ll comment and say ‘that’s not a proper barbecue’ – that’s my pet peeve. Because I used to be one of those people until I had a go on one. So, if you want to peeve me off at the moment, comment on my Instagram telling me it’s not a proper barbecue”

What was your childhood nickname?

“Jam, it still is”

How do you take your tea?

“Really, really strong with two sugars”

What is something everyone looks stupid doing?

“The butterfly swimming stroke”

Do you like cheese?

“I don’t mind cheese but forget goats cheese and anything with blue in it. I’m not interested”

What’s your favourite cheese?

“Probably this one called Ogleshield cheese, it’s a bit like cheddar but it’s really good melted. I went to this restaurant called Hawksmoor in London and they do this thing called a French Dip. It’s like a sub sandwich with slowly cooked beef rib in it with melted Ogleshield cheese on top and you cut it in half, dip it in gravy and that’s how you eat it…very long answer sorry!”

*thumbs up*

Shaun – Content Operations

What’s your favourite place on earth?

“My house, my computer chair”

What was the first album you bought?

“I’m not sure it’s the first one, but My Chemical Romance – Welcome to the black parade”

You get stuck in a lift with 3 people (dead or alive) who are they?

“Don’t know” *awkward laughter* “this might take a while…Paul Chowdhry would be cool. Professor Green he’s a cool guy, I don’t listen to his music but I follow him on Instagram and he seems nice. Third would be Martin Freeman”

What is your favourite movie quote?

“This is going to be fun! We can stay up late, swapping manly stories, and in the morning, I’m making waffles!” – Donkey, Shrek

What’s the last song that was stuck in your head?

“For the two weeks I was in Thailand I couldn’t get Three Lions by The Lightning Seeds, Baddiel and Skinner out of my head”

What’s your favourite TV show?

“Suits at the moment or Scrubs but not the last season because it wasn’t as good as the other 8”

Do you have an unusual celebrity crush and if so who is it?

“Unusual? Katy Perry, that’s not unusual though. She’s a pretty unusual person a bit whacky. Ohh I know, Nicole Kidman she’s like 50 but she looks great.”

What’s your favourite ’90s jam?

“Poison by Bell Biv Devoe”

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

 “I have a few, everything irritates me. People sitting next to me on the train, people playing music on the train, anything to do with a train”

What was your childhood nickname?

*laughter*

“I have a few. In Primary school people used to call me ‘prawn’ because it rhymed with my name, that was a clever one, I also had ‘Sheep’ because of Shaun the Sheep. Nowadays I’ve got ‘Schwib’, ‘Shuar’, ‘Shwee’ just lots of different variations of my name”

How do you take your tea?

“I don’t. I don’t hate tea it’s just not as nice as coffee. Actually Lipton Iced Tea lemon, peach and mango are all great”

What is something everyone looks stupid doing?

“Dancing when they’re drunk…I’m the number one culprit of it”

Do you like cheese?

*Without hesitation*

“No. Well, kinda. I don’t like cheese the way other people like cheese. I only really like cheddar also cheese strings are pretty good”

Elisabeth – Contributor Relations Executive 

What’s your favourite place on earth?

“Right now, I would say Slovenia because I’ve just been there, it was magical. They’ve got mountain paths, crazy views, beautiful paths and loads of nice wine and food”

What was the first album you bought?

“M����DzԲԲ�”

You get stuck in a lift with 3 people (dead or alive) who are they?

“Let me think, this is an important question. I feel it needs a bit of reflection. I would like to be stuck with a philosopher like Aristotle or something, for a good long chat. And then maybe Jude Law, you never know in case you have a chance. And who else?…”

*spends a while thinking*

“I’d like a cool woman, someone I look up to. The comedian Katherine Ryan, in case Aristotle gets really boring”

What is your favourite movie quote?

“It’s a classic and it’s the only one I have ever used.”

“Nobody puts baby in the corner” – Johnny Castle, Dirty Dancing

Last song that was stuck in your head?

*starts singing* “Hop on the bus Gus…who’s that song by again? When we got married we had a song on the play list called ’50 ways to leave your lover’ by Paul Simon and one of the lines is ‘hop on the bus Gus’ and we had that stuck in our heads all day”

What’s your favourite TV show?

“Game of Thrones…no actually it’s between Game of Thrones and the Handmaids Tale. Aesthetically, it’s just beautiful…I think I’m going to go with Handmaids Tale”

Do you have an unusual celebrity crush and if so who is it?

“Travis Fimmel but only as Ragnar Lothbrok from Vikings and equally his first wife Lagertha, or maybe I just want to be her more than having a crush on her…I never have a crush on musicians, only ever on actors”

What’s your favourite ’90s jam?

“They’re all annoying, I hate 90’s music. I don’t think I have a favourite, I’m just glad we’re out of that era”

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

“I hate when people complain about the weather, I just really don’t see the point of it. Anything else to talk about is more interesting, you can’t really do anything about it, if it’s cold put a jumper on. I have no patience for it”

What was your childhood nickname?

“E������”

How do you take your tea?

“Just a little bit of milk, no sugar”

What is something everyone looks stupid doing?

“Yawning I guess, I’ve never seen anyone gracefully yawn”

Do you like cheese?

“Yes, I love cheese so much”

What’s your favourite cheese?

“All of them” *laughing* “Like literally all of them, it doesn’t matter, every cheese at once yeah that’s my favourite”

Keep your eyes peeled for the third and final instalment of this blog series in the coming months. We’d love to get to know you better, so why now have a go at answering some of the questions yourself in the comments below!