The Idler - Issue 41

Page 58

John Lloyd and John Mitchinson

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THE IDLER

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SUMMER 2008

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QUITE INTERESTING

CONVERSATION

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Tom Hodgkinson meets QI’s John Lloyd and John Mitchinson,

mortal foes of boredom, anger and authority

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ehind qi the telly show and books, there is a serious philosophical remit: to end boredom and to rethink the way we learn. Here the two Johns dicuss work, play, the horrors of school and the redeeming power of curiosity.

lloyd :-I’ll tell you a funny thing about work. I met this guy, a school gate Dad, just when we were beginning to do QI, at a dinner party and I was telling this group of six or eight people what QI did. This hedge fund guy, with billions in the bank, having decided to sell his business and retire at forty, leapt to his feet and shouted, “how dare you try and tell me what I find interesting! You’re a cultural fascist!” and I said, “sorry, Jeremy, what?” And he ran off into the garden. He came back and said, “I’m sorry, it’s just that ever since I gave up work I don’t know what to do with myself.” He went back and started up another hedge fund and he’s much happier. Getting the 6 .30train and making shed loads of money, because then he doesn’t have to think about what matters. For some people work is an absolute crutch. I know because I gave up working. It was one of the things that triggered off the crisis that started QI. I was forty-two. I said to my wife Sarah, “My life

is so meaningless, so pointless, I’m so dull, I don’t know anything. All I know is how to make television commercials about banks and lager. I’ve got to take some time off, I’ve got no ideas, I’ve got to recharge my batteries.” So I took three months off, and it was the most horrific experience, Tom, because I could do what I wanted but I didn’t know what to do. I used to wander up and down the Fulham Road and think, maybe I should get a job as a waiter and not tell Sarah, you know, and tell her I’m relaxing, but work really really hard in someone’s kitchen. And I went on an art class, I thought I must learn to do something proper, something meaningful. I went to this art class at Chelsea College of Art, and I walked in and someone said, “what are you doing here?” I said, “well I’ve come to learn to draw,” and she said, “I’ve seen you on telly, why would you want to learn to draw here? In this terrible dump?” I did four of these weeks of classes, and she was really horrible to me, she said,

THE IDLER

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CONVERSATIONS

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