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04
People & Social News

Actuary of the future: Alex Bates

Open-access content Wednesday 30th March 2016 — updated 5.50pm, Wednesday 29th April 2020

Actuary of the future: Alex Bates

2

Employer and area of work

Punter Southall, pensions.

How would your best friend describe you?

Alright.

What motivates you? 

Fear of failure.

What would be your personal motto? 

Live fast, die old.

Name five dream companions to be stuck on a desert island with?

Steve Webb; Rachel Riley; Peter Andre; darts player Raymond van Barneveld; and last but not least, Ben Fogle.

What's your most 'actuarial' habit? 

Not sure if this is especially actuarial, but the first thing I do every morning is check the statistics from the previous night's basketball games.

Favourite Excel function?

IMREAL - because I am.

How do you relax away from the office?

Drinking pints with my mates and watching reality TV.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you recently?

I went to leave a comment on a Will Young YouTube video only to find that I had already left the same comment eight months earlier.Alternative career choice?

Darts caller or Premier League referee.

What song best describes your work ethic?

Lady Sovereign - 9 to 5 (Ordinary Boys remix)

Greatest risk you have ever taken?

I wore socks and sandals on the beach last summer. There were a few naysayers but I'm confident I pulled it off.

If you could go back in history, who would you like to meet? 

Henry VIII. Classic monarch and a great musician.

If there was a movie produced about your life, who would play you, and why?

It would need to be someone that combined Ryan Gosling's looks with Robert Downey Jr's charisma. So I guess it would have to be Paul Danan.
 

If you could be anyone else, who would it be?

Justin Bieber.

This article appeared in our April 2016 issue of The Actuary.
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