Jonathan Mills Q&A

What is your earliest childhood memory?
Playing in the garden of a friend’s farm in South West of Sydney and encountering a tiger snake.

What is the worst job you have ever had?
Assessing grant applications for the Australian Arts Council: really difficult and frustating.

What is your most treasured possession?
A little letter opened in the shape of a boomerang given to my father for saving someone’s life in a POW camp in WWII: the inscription is extraordinary.

What do you do on a day off?
Don’t have any.

Who do you envy?
17th century Zen poets in Kyoto such as Bash?.

Have you ever made an enemy?
Without even trying. Friends come and go, enemies accumulate.

Would you consider yourself sporty?
I might, but others might think that is ridiculous.

What stresses you out?
Not having anything to do.

Would you consider yourself vain?
Sometimes: especially before the opening night at the Edinburgh International Festival.

Describe your ideal holiday
Just had it: 3 days in Madrid visiting the Prado, Reina Sofia and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museums.

What is your vice?
Vintage Champagne.