Partner, Davies Arnold Cooper

Michael's career has taken him from Petticoat Lane market to the London insurance market - with some interesting pit-stops in-between.

Where were you brought up?
Initially in Bethnal Green and then we moved to Ilford, Essex.

What was your childhood ambition?
To be successful.

What is your favourite film?
Either The Godfather 1 , 11 or 111 (what does that tell you about my character?) or One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (even more scary!)

What was your first job?
Selling clothes in Petticoat Lane market.

What was the first album you ever bought?
Can't remember precisely, but it was either Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (The Beatles) or Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon and Garfunkel).

What do you find hardest about your job?
Any aspect of management or administration.

What is the favourite part of your job?
Finding the solution to the problem.

Do you keep any pets?
Not knowingly, although I do get visits by the odd (hopefully non-rabid) fox on occasion.

What is the best advice you have been given?
Keep the client informed of what is happening: even if it is bad news, most clients, in my experience, prefer "no surprises."

What would be your ideal job?

Film critic: interviewing stars, attending all the movies and premieres, and getting paid for it - magic!

What is your favourite food?
Italian with a good bottle of red wine.

What really annoys you?
People who can't make decisions or who want others to make the hard decisions for them, and then criticise those decisions after the event if it goes wrong.

What advice would you offer someone starting out in the industry?
Major in a speciality area and become an expert in that area: don't try to generalise or be all things to all men. Finally, make contacts at a junior level and make sure that you maintain those contacts as you and they move up the career ladder.

What was the last book you read?
A John Grisham novel. My excuse? I was on holiday.

If someone at a dinner party asks you what you do for a living, what do you say?
A tax inspector: it always worries them particularly given what they may have said earlier in the discussion and usually kills conversation stone dead!

If money were no option, where would you like to live?
The Maldives: paradise on earth.

Who would you like to be stuck in a lift with?
Jack Nicholson for his interesting insight into Hollywood stories.

How do you relax?
Playing tennis and imagining that I hit the ball like Roger Federer.

Are you a technophobe?
Sometimes: it takes me time to understand how gadgets work, but once I master them, then it is all systems go. The Blackberry, in my opinion, is a wonderful invention.