Questiontime: Richard Macadam

NATALIE

GRAHAM talks to Richard Macadam, 42, managing director of the Oddbins wine chain for the past three years...

WHAT was your biggest break?

BEING made a buyer for Oddbins after spending five years running shops around the country.

WHAT do you like most about your job?

THE people I work with. They keep me young and make me laugh.

WHAT are you most proud of?

ODDBINS consistently being named Wine Merchant of the Year. Ten times in the last 12 years is awesome!

WHAT'S your advice to entrepreneurs?

NEVER accept no for an answer.

WHO'S your business hero?

ARCHIE Norman, for turning ASDA round when everyone else had given them up for dead.

WHAT would you do if you were Tony Blair?

CUT duty on alcohol to French levels, and let us all compete fairly. We pay about pounds 1.50 a bottle duty and they pay 2p.

HOW much money was Oddbins set up with?

NOT a lot. Ahmed Pochee, a Lebanese entrepreneur, kicked it all off by buying up bankrupt stock and re-selling it at rock bottom prices over 30 years ago.

YOUR best day in business?

BEING appointed managing director of Oddbins in l996. It was like a hatful of birthdays in one go.

YOUR worst day?

CHELSEA losing to any other London club.

WHAT has been your biggest disappointment?

NOT being able to get things done quickly enough.

HOW do you relax after work?

I LIKE to cook dinner with a decent glass of wine at hand, often a red Aussie Shiraz.

YOUR idea of a perfect holiday?

A TOUR of Spanish parador country hotels with my wife.

WHAT would you do if you were not running Oddbins?

TRAIN to be a chef or run a travel company.

WHAT'S your favourite film?

THE Outlaw Josey Wales. A Clint Eastwood classic Western that has everything in it, particularly action and humour.

WHAT do you usually drink?

FUNNILY enough, wine, which tends to be red.

WHAT car do you drive?

A DARK blue BMW 5 series.

YOUR idea of a great day?

CATCH a helicopter to Tresco in the Scilly Isles to breathe in pure air, watch the birds and just relax.

THE best TV series you have ever seen?

THE Fast Show. It is the sharpest and most innovative comedy show in the 90s.

YOUR favourite book?

ONE Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marques. I have read it three times and am looking forward to the next! A fantastic, humorous allegory set in South America.

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