ImagesMagUK_Digital_Edition_March_2018

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS www.images-magazine.com 88 images MARCH 2018 You know the name, now get to know the person. John-Paul Burton, sales director of Your Embroidery Services, discusses his love of aircraft, Hawaii and 4x4s UPCLOSE AND PERSONAL How long have you been working in the industry? 28 years, as of this year! I started as a trainee sewing machine technician at the age of 16, then went on to fix Barudan embroidery machines at GE MacPhersons. I later moved into technical/sales with Melco embroidery systems, when they had their own office based in the UK, and then went on to work with Your Embroidery Services (YES) as a sales technician. What’s your most over-used word or phrase? In order, at number 3 ‘absolutely’, number 2 ‘awesome’ and, at number 1, ‘You’re having a giraffe!’ What’s your hidden talent? I love to fly planes, even though I hardly do it anymore, and I’m good at DIY, which gives me a sense of pride and achievement! I can now safely say that my hidden talent, or at least the flying bug, has been passed on to my eldest Ethan, who has just started flying lessons. If you were to pursue another occupation what would it be? Fixing aircraft as an airframe technician, or flying them. If you could be anywhere on earth right now, where would you be? Back in Hawaii with my wonderful wife and children, sitting on Waikiki beach making sandcastles in the sunshine waiting for the sun to drop with the most amazing sunset I have ever seen. Perfect. Which gadget or app couldn’t you live without? My car. I love cars and I have great pleasure driving my Volvo 4x4 XC Jeep. I love my 4x4s, especially Volvo as they are not an old man’s car anymore! If you could ask one person (living or dead) one question, what would you ask? Sir Winston Churchill: How did he have the nerve and willpower to do what he did and what drove him? Which tune can’t you get out of your head at the moment? Well, I don’t really have any that get stuck, but one of my all-time favourites would be Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey from when I was younger. What’s your favourite sports team? It has to be Nottingham Forest. I am a Nottinghamshire boy, born and raised, and loved sitting in the directors’ box as a kid, a couple of rows behind the then manager, Mr Brian Clough. Forest all the way! Tomato ketchup or brown sauce? Brown sauce every day, spread on the back of a nice, thickly cut bacon butty, with all the fat removed – and it has to be crispy! What is the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you at work? I just cannot say, it’s tooooooooooo bad! What’s your most unappealing habit? Biting my nails What’s your guilty pleasure? Drinking piping-hot chocolate and rum on a winter’s day (on the side of a snowy mountain, prior to strapping a pair of skis back on). [Below] John-Paul on a family ski trip, looking forward to a warming hot chocolate and rum John-Paul shares his talent for flying planes with his son, Ethan