Five things you didn't know about...

Lion man...

A keen rugby fan I have watched the British & Irish Lions in both Australia and this year in South Africa. Back in 2001 and out on a catamaran on the Great Barrier Reef, I was feeling distinctly worse for wear from the night before and getting plenty of fresh air out on deck when I found myself talking 1-to-1 with Lion’s legend Ian McGeechan for half an hour about all things Lions. I like to think he learnt a great deal in that 30 minutes...

The good, the bad...

I have certainly seen both ends of the market in my insurance career, starting off with United Friendly and door to door ‘home service’ insurance, insuring homes that even the ‘Man from the Pru’ would avoid, then bouncing up market to Hiscox and its Mid/High Net Worth client base.

The only non-sailor in the Village...

Since 2006 we have lived out in the sticks in North Essex in a village by the River Blackwater called Tollesbury. I have given in re the obligatory dog but am holding out against the equally obligatory chickens, and I must be the only person in the village who does not sail, although with two young children and a wife who loves sailing I suspect it is only a matter of time.

A risk too far...

As an underwriter risk is an old friend but perhaps in hindsight I was being a little too relaxed by going through with a trip to the Hong Kong Sevens in March 2003. My wife Clare was eight months pregnant with Jack our first born, the Gulf war was raging and the SARS outbreak was at its peak with face masks everywhere. One of my companions was put in quarantine in Sydney for a week when he returned, so I got away very lightly. England won so of course it was well worth it.

Stick to football...

A keen but limited footballer (and for my sins a Nottingham Forest fan), I was lucky enough to avoid any serious knocks whilst playing. You can perhaps imagine how popular I was at home when, practising a few rugby moves in the back garden, I managed to break my five-year old son’s leg. I’m not sure who was less impressed, Jack or his mother who was watching. No more Ruby trips for me then.

David Whitaker is a director at Plum Underwriting.