The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Getting to know you
Andrew Valentine, who has spent his working life in publishing, answers our questions
Q What was your plan B in terms of a career?
A I always wanted to join J. Valentine & Sons, and be in publishing.
Q What was your best time there?
A Working with Paul McCartney on the sleeve of Mary Hopkins LP, called Postcard.
Q Your house is on fire, what one item do you save?
A If my wife and my dogs are already out, the complete works of James Thurber.
Q Where in the world are you happiest?
A If not at home in Perthshire, on the west coast of Scotland, or in the underrated south-west.
Q Favourite part of Scotland to explore?
A The area around Loch Hourn and Loch Garry where my mother’s family came from. So many wonderful memories over a long period of time.
Q How has lockdown affected you?
A Rules were clear and easy to follow, and we are very lucky to live in the countryside. The dogs helped.
Q Dream dinner party guests?
A Billy Connolly, Bill McLaren, Gabby Logan, Ben Crenshaw, Miranda Hart, Andrew Cotter and Jonathan Agnew.
Q First thing you’d do if you won a £1 million?
A Check the ticket, then again. I’d like to support the helping dog charity.
Q Describe yourself as if you were a fine wine?
A Naive, but you’ll be amused by the presumption.
Q Tell us something about you that most people don’t know?
A I am a mildly colour blind publisher. Explains a lot.
Q What makes you happy?
A Being at home surrounded by my family.
Q What makes you sad? A Cruelty, intolerance, arrogance.
Q Do you believe in aliens?
A Possibly. It’s no time to make enemies.
Q encounter? Have you ever had a paranormal
A Yes.
Q Write your own epitaph.
A See you later.
Q What was the first album you ever bought?
A Elvis’s first LP.
Q Happiest memory?
A Winning the office golf championship at Ladyban.
Q What are you proudest of?
A Helping to employ quite a lot of people over the years.
Q Biggest regret?
A That my brother Malcolm is no longer here to work with me on the projects we started together.
Q younger What advice self? would you give your
A Be yourself, don’t try to be someone else.
Q Who do you most admire? A Anyone with the gift of inspiration and encouragement for others.
Q And who do you detest?
A Not really my scene, but I don’t like Donald Trump very much.
Q Most embarrassing memory?
A Dropping a presentation tankard seconds after it was given to me, and watching it shatter on the floor.
Q Who would you like to thank?
A My parents, for a happy family and childhood.
Q If you could go back to any point in history, when would it be?
A Back to a point where we talked to each other, no more banging into people in the street on their phones, or glued to their screens.
Q What is the best advice you ever received, and who did it come from?
A A very helpful lesson in humility by my father-in-law, it changed my life.
Andrew Valentine started in J Valentine & Sons in 1959, eventually becoming marketing director. After some years in fine art, he returned to the greeting card market in 1995, founding Valentine Marketing Limited, based in Blairgowrie, also continuing in fine art reproduction until 2019. He retired this year.