Giles QuickSend a message to

Giles Quick

Giles Quick

I knew Kevan for about 20 years, we worked together, we had fun together, we laughed together, we cried together. Mostly we did an excellent impersonation of two grumpy old men putting the world and the company to rights. If we had been masters of the universe it would be a lot better place. More David Bowie, more cats fewer dogs, more cars that look like cars not metal boxes, a more humane world, a world that listened, a world that cared. Kevan [my voice-activated software keeps trying to call Kevan ‘Caravan’ which would make him fume and is about as inaccurate and inappropriate as voice-activated software could possibly get] along with Jon were my go-to people when I was feeling sh*t. Listening and caring were two of Kevan’s great qualities. He took friendship seriously. I have many happy memories with Kevan. A couple of wonderful days tramping up and down streets and canals in Venice, getting lost and enjoying getting lost. Shopping for some exoteric art that Kevan wanted buy for Kate, I recall it was a Venetian mask. I suspect Kate hated it, but it’s typical of the man but he spent ages hunting out something special. Riotous lunches with Jon and Kevan celebrating his three then six then annual all clear verdict from his latest checkup. We found some weird and wonderful cocktail lounges and some even weirder and more wonderful cocktails. Kevan had a good dose of OCD particularly when it came to font sizes, Microsoft word font types and the colour scheme used on charts. I bet he rearranged the towels in some special order and sequence at home. Having said that he instilled a creativity and enthusiasm for the subject (alcohol!) within his team. Alcohol-based bingo. Visits and reports on dingy local pubs and dodgy clubs became part of his team’s monthly responsibilities, which Kevan took very seriously. He was a great presenter and incredibly knowledgeable about this subject. I remember one conference he ran at the Tower of London where I was remarkably impressed by the client connections deep understanding of the issues facing the industry. Although he looked a bit like a gnu, Kevan was actually a guru. A single malt guru, but not too peaty if you please. I’ll miss you dear friend. Suss out the good spots, the interesting out of the way places for me so we can have a good catch up when we meet again

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