21 Feb 2025
We ask a different figure from the local community to choose 10 questions to answer from a list of 50. This week: Robert Voss CBE CStJ Hon.LLD, HM Lord-Lieutenant of Hertfordshire, the British monarch’s personal representative in the county.
Where do you go to listen to music?
Anywhere… on my ear buds… in my study… in the car or quietly in the lounge and of course in St Albans Cathedral. I can’t live without music and listen whenever I can.
What’s the first thing you do after you’ve woken up in the morning?
Stretch exercises to ease my back and hips which have caused some problems in the last few years. That gets me going for the day.
How often do you check your phone?
Far too often… now I have an Apple Watch I check it all day long.
Were you well behaved at school?
Yes I was a prefect and captain of rugby and cricket.
What are your preferred pizza toppings?
Definitely pepperoni… and plenty of it!
Dogs or cats?
Dogs – always had one as a child and always since married in 1975. We’re now on our fifth Labrador – aptly named Rex.
If you could have a conversation with someone who had died who would it be?
My father who died aged 50 when I was 15. There are so many things I should have asked especially now with the wisdom of hindsight. He was a refugee from Nazi Germany who came her in 1939 and lost his parents in a concentration camp. Thus he would never talk about his youth or family he lost – it was simply too painful… and now I would like to know more about his childhood and about the grandparents I never met.
What was your first job? Paper round aged 12.
When have you been most scared?
When my wife was diagnosed with cancer last year.
Do you play any musical instruments?
Piano, guitar and I have been learning the flute for the last couple of years. Not to any great standards but I enjoy playing all three.
