Today we get to know Oliver Beaton, Manager in the Recovery and Reorganisation team at Grant Thornton in Guernsey.
What’s the most interesting thing about your work?
Variety – the range of different situations you come across working in restructuring and insolvency means that there is always a new challenge, which keeps the work interesting.
I also enjoy the fact that it’s very much a people-facing role. I regularly have calls or meetings with various stakeholders and advisers on a range of different matters.
What are you watching/reading/listening to?
The Undoing with Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman was very good. I’ve also been working my way through Black Mirror from the start (although I’m slightly late to the party). I’m a big fan of Jack Kerouac’s novels. Music-wise I’ve had the new Camelphat album on repeat recently.
What are the last three accounts you followed on social media?
I started following Sir David Attenborough when he joined Instagram recently. Other than that, there aren’t a great deal of celebrities / public figures that I follow. Some time ago, out of sheer curiosity, I started following Donald Trump (and then stopped following him very soon thereafter).
When are you happiest?
Enjoying a meal out at any one of Guernsey’s amazing restaurants, or otherwise enjoying Guernsey’s natural beauty, whether walking on the cliffs or lying on the beach.
Humans and pets aside, what would you save if your house was on fire?
My violin and sheet music.
What’s your guiltiest pleasure?
Gogglebox… I feel as if there is no logical reason why it should be funny as a concept, yet I find it hilarious and watch it religiously every week.
What’s your favourite smell?
So here’s a fun fact… I’ve never actually been able to smell! It’s something I realised at quite a young age when I was at primary school, and seems to be hereditary, as my grandpa couldn’t smell either. Whist I don’t know whether it relates to my lack of smell, I have a high tolerance for spice, and my favourite food is chili con carne.
What’s your earliest memory?
I remember seeing a lightning storm with huge purple forks from underneath the plastic rain cover over my pram. From my description of it, my parents think it was possibly in France when I was only a few months old.
What did you want to be when growing up?
When I was much younger, I wanted to be a creative writer – I actually won a young writing competition in The Times when I was around 8 or 9 for writing a story about a monster that lived under the bed!
What song is guaranteed to cheer you up?
Either Jerusalem… or the Macarena!
