London, GB | Formerly of New York, Buenos Aires, Fife, and the Western Cape. | Saoránach d’Éirinn.

A few moments with Andrew Cusack

I’m pulling a Buckley and self-interviewing.

Why do you blog? Out of boredom, and partly as a release for whatever little creative talents I have.

What are you reading at the moment? Pickwick Papers (Dickens), France Since the Popular Front (Larkin), France Since 1870 (Sowerwine).

Who are your cultural heroes? Hmmm… Thérèse of Liseux, Graf von Stauffenberg, the Ven. Fulton Sheen, Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati.

What is your favourite poem? Anything humorous by Chesterton or ‘In Memoriam’ by Tennyson.

What is your favourite movie? I’d probably have to go with Rushmore.

What is your favourite song? ‘Dona Nobis Pacem’ from Bach’s Mass in B Minor. Also James Macmillan’s Mass, specifically the Sursum Corda and Preface, Sanctus and Benedictus, and Eucharistic Prayer. It is the only serious piece of music written for the Novus Ordo. Ever. And he’s working on a Missa as well.

What philosophical thesis do you think it most important to disseminate? Traditionalism.

What philosophical thesis do you think it most important to combat? Anything atheistic or which denigrates the inherent dignity of the human being (ie: Nazism, Communism, totalitarianism, modern liberalism).

Who are your political heroes? Teddy Roosevelt, Stauffenberg (again), Charles of Austria, Chesterton.

If you could effect one major policy change in the governing of your country, what would it be? Having the thirteen original colonies secede and restore the Stuart line. Juan Carlos can have California.

What do you consider to be the main threat to the future peace and security of the world? Islamic fundamentalism, secularism, materialism, individualism, in that order.

Do you think the world (human civilization) has already passed its best point, or is that yet to come? Though I’m a big fan of the pre-WWI order, I think the thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ at the end of the world will probably top it.

What would be your most important piece of advice about life? Don’t forget there’s a life after this one.

Do you think you could ever be married to, or in a long-term relationship with, someone with radically different political views from your own? Doubtful.

If you could choose anyone, from any walk of life, to be Prime Minister, who would you choose? Lord Alton.

Who would play you in the movie about your life? Joseph Cotten.

If you could have any three guests, past or present, to dinner who would they be? (Assuming this is along with the usual Rob, Maria, Abby, Matt, Jon, and Clare) G.K. Chesterton, Taki, and Noel Coward.

Where would you most like to live (other than where you do)? Well you have to have a place in town (New York) and a place in the country (upstate). Or maybe Mitteleuropa.

What would your ideal holiday be? I think anywhere when there’s a coup taking place and the goodies are ousting the badies. And hopefully enjoyable climate and pleasant scenery as well. Think springtime, restoring the Hapsburgs, Vienna or Budapest.

What do you consider the most important personal quality? Courage, sincerity.

What personal fault do you most dislike? Superficiality.

What, if anything, do you worry about? Pissing off God. (Essentially, my salvation, and friends’ salvation. All else is fluff.)

In what circumstances would you be willing to lie? Circumstances in which it would not be wrong to. And probably some in which it would.

Do you have any prejudices you’re willing to acknowledge? I’m not keen on that which lies on the other side of the Mississippi.

What is your favourite proverb? He who marries himself to the spirit of the age is soon widowed.

What commonly enjoyed activities do you regard as a waste of time? Dancing. (Except traditional dancing, of course).

What animal would you most like to be? Turtle or elephant. Either.

What do you like doing in your spare time? Laying on the hammock in our back garden at home, reading the New York Sun, the New Criterion, First Things, and the Encyclopedia of New York. Having a good pint of John Smith’s. Rueing Gavrilo Princip.

What is your most treasured possession? Perhaps the portrait of grandpa on my wall at home in New York. Perhaps my St Albans rugby top. Perhaps the Encyclopedia of New York.

If you had to change your first name, what would you change it to? Nicholas.

What talent would you most like to have? I wish I could actually tell stories. I’m a crap storyteller. I forget half the essentials and then remember them when it’s too late. And languages. I wish I could speak French, Spanish, German, and Afrikaans fluently. And Latin, of course. So storytelling and linguistics. And athleticism.

What would be your ideal choice of alternative profession or job? University principal/chancellor, philanthropist, urban planner.

Who is your favourite comedian or humorist? Chesterton and Waugh, and my fellow American, P.G. Wodehouse.

Who are your sporting heroes? Bloody heck, do I have any? Dr. Nat Kernell.

Which English Premiership football team do you support, and which baseball team? Let’s go for Man U and the Mets.

How, if at all, would you change your life were you suddenly to win or inherit an enormously large sum of money? Some more port, more sausages, and it’d be much easier to found the university I’m planning.

Questions nicked from Normblog profiles.

Published at 5:49 am on Thursday 3 March 2005. Categories: Cusack's Diary.
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