| So what's this Sandy's full name? | In full he is Alexander "Sandy" Robin Tulloch. Sandy is a Gaelic contraction of Alexander you see. Tulloch, I believe, is the name of several villages in Scotland, the major claim to fame of one being that it was taken over by UNIT in one episode of 'Doctor Who' and the Doctor was chased by the Loch Ness Monster across Tulloch Moor. |
| Does he have any other aliases | Well for some years certain friends of his insisted on calling him Sun-Dog. Some reworking of the name Sandy I believe. At first the Master was a little non-plussed with it, but has since grown quite fond of it... |
| So how old is he? When was he born? | The Master came into this world on the 19th of September, in the year of 1975. It was a Friday at three in the morning if I remember right. He insists it should have been a dark and stormy night with the sound of winds relentlessly beating trees and with mysterious howls being carried on the breeze from primieval moors. But I do not remember anything like that... |
| So what does he look like? Is he tall? | He is a full six feet and three-ish inches in height, so the answer to your second question is yes. He complains that being that height means he bashes his head on the roof in any building over a hundred years old and that he looks like a hunchback while walking down the aisles on buses, but I suspect he rather enjoys being so large. |
| What about build? | A stone or so too heavy, I fear. He is desperately trying to rectify this matter but alas has not yet got to a point that satisfies him. |
| Oh. What about eye colour? | His eyes are a sort of greenish-grey-blue with a couple of brown flecks. I'm sorry if that seems a little vague but they are a bit of everything really. |
| And his hair? | Dark brown, though it occasionally lightens during summer when he spends a lot of time outside. At the start of March he visited a hairdresers and had rather a large amount of his hair removed. He now has a 'number 4 back and sides, with the top trimmed slightly'. Interestingly he sets his beard trimmer to give him a number 4 trim as well. |
| Beard? | Yes. The Master recently sprouted this over his face in what he said was "a desperate attempt to hide just how desperately ugly I am" but I suspect that is one of his little self-deprecations. He currently wears it as a goatee, and it seems likely to stay that way. |
| So what's his dress sense like? |
Were he here he would probably tell you he didn't have any... However a better answer would be to tell you that, unlike many of his friends, he refuses to mope around in various shades of black and instead insists on wearing various bright greens, blues, yellows, reds and maroons. He generally prefers just T-shirts but sometimes dons sweatshirts too, should the temperature have dropped below zero. He dislikes most trousers that aren't jeans, insisting that you can't play football in other types of trouser without getting them ripped. This ensemble is nowadays completed with a new and yet already battered looking pair of Nike trainers. The master generally loathes shirts and ties claiming them to be "the fashion styles of the devil." |
| The devil, eh? Is he religious then? |
These days the Master generally claim to be a pantheist. To be accurate I believe he is an agnostic who, despite his logic telling him there is no God, believes there is something there. He quips that he believes because it helps him get through the night when hit by tragedy. I suspect it has more to do with those times when he has had what could either be described as a mystic experience or as a self-induced hallucinatory reaction. At those times he has felt as if he was absorbed into something bigger and wider than himself, that he could sense everything that was around him. "When you feel like you've touched, however briefly, the reason behind it all", he said, "it makes it so much harder to go back to atheism..." That said he is in fact generally opposed to all organised religions. His opinion is that belief is a very personal matter and he refuses point blank to acknowledge that any one person can 'know' God better than any other. |
| Is he... umm... you know. Seeing anyone? | Despite my attempts to push along the matter of the Tulloch succession, he remains single and unattached. I believe he would like to rectify that situation if he could. |
| What does he like to eat? | The Master is very fond of Italian food as well as Mexican, Indian and Chinese dishes. Sadly he is not a great cook and when I am not there he will tend to resort to oven-ready meals. Generally though all meat will be eaten with gusto, since he is not vegetarian. Indeed it is hard to be less of a vegetarian than the Master... |
| So what doesn't he like? | Varieties of vegetable mainly; sprouts, broccoli and especially mushrooms. He is mostly carnivorous and seems quite proud of it. |
| Well that's food. What about drink? | Cherry Coke, is the Master's favourite drink, quickly followed by all other types of Coke. He admits he probably drinks too much of this, especially when working. Ribena has also been popular with him recently. When he does go out for an alcoholic drink Vodka is usually his choice. But sadly he cannot afford many nights out at present. |
| What doesn't he like to drink |
Tea, coffee, lager and bitter. Tea, coffee and all other hot drinks are disliked because he does not like hot drinks going down his throat. I suspect that this is psychological as he scalded himself quite badly when he was merely two years old and probably retains quite a fear of hot liquids. The story is that as the family was moving from Scotland to Wales his mother was washing the windows with some very hot water to make sure they were clean when the new residents moved in. The young Master tottered out to see her and as he approached she warned him not to touch the water in the bucket. Wondering why she had made such a request he decided to touch it anyway and plunged his hand in in. He had to be rushed to the Stirling Royal Infirmary Burns Unit for the second time in his brief life. As for bitter and lager. Well, he just don't like the taste of them. Odd since his father is in the brewing trade, but such strangeness is the way of the world. |
| Hang on. Second time to the Burns Unit? | Yes. The young master had had a previous bad experience with heat. He had wondered into the kitchen in search of his mother and not finding her there decided to find out what the machine she seemed to stand next to a lot was. He got himself a stool, stood on it and was able to see that there were four rings on top. He played with some of the switches and knobs his mother did and then saw one of the rings was glowing red. Wondering why that was he reached out and placed his hand on it. He was already inquisitive at that early age, and that experience does not seem to have stopped that. |
| What does he watch on TV? |
Babylon 5 is favourite current TV show, possibly his all-time favourite. He likes lots of SF shows including Star Trek: The Next Generation and will watch almost any intelligent SF show that doesn't have a cute talking robot. He is a great fan of Warner Brother cartoons especially Animaniacs which he believes is wasted upon children and he also enjoyed the early Ren and Stimpy's. He watches a number of police shows, Cracker in particular, and large amounts of comedy shows. |
| And what doesn't he watch? | Anything that tries to be 'wacky and zany' and just looks moronic. And he finds political party conferences are an instant turn-off. And game shows with hosts who try to be 'wacky and zany'... |
| Does he like the cinema? |
Indeed. He tries to go at least once a week. His favourite films are probably b>Trainspotting, Seven Samurai, Beauty and the Beast, Jason and the Argonauts, Henry V (Kenneth Branagh version), Land & Freedom, The Lion King, Singin' in the Rain, It's A Wonderful Life, Sneakers, The Full Monty, Groundhog Day and Good Will Hunting. But his absolute favourite would be Casablanca, a film I doubt he will ever stop loving. He says it is funny, exciting, tense and has a great ending, and I don't think I could disagree with him there. |
| What films doesn't he like? | There are very few of these since he has rather eclectic tastes, preferring many small independant films and foreign cinema over Hollywood blockbusters. I suppose I'd have to say, again, that he dislikes anything that tries to be zany and is just moronic. |
| I saw a large library earlier. I take it he reads a lot? |
Oh, very much so. If he has little else to do he can get through several books in a week. Even while working at university he can manage a book a week. For preference he prefers novels with action, tension or both. SF and fantasy books are common choices. Anything by Arthur C. Clarke is a common choice, as is anything by Terry Pratchett. Most of Douglas Adams' books, most of Peter David's books, CS Lewis' Narnia books, and the Dirk Pitt books of Clive Cussler, especially the later ones. He also likes to read classics and here Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Professor Challenger stories are particularly favoured. Les Miserables is also lying about half-read at the moment. he also has a large collection of books about mythology and some of what he considers the more interesting sections of history. Probably his favourite book would be Rendezvous With Rama. "No book before or since has quite caught the grandeur of space exploration the way it does" he has said of it. |
| So what books doesn't he like? What does he hate reading? | I don't know about hating... He said Spycatcher was so boring he only got about three pages into it before conceding defeat. And he was forced to read Mill on The Floss for his A-Level English and pretty much despised the entire concept and style of it. |
| In amidst all the TV watching, cinema going and reading does he have the time for any sports? |
Well on the television he has watched an awful lot of football since coming to university, which is strange since he disliked watching it before. He also tends to watch Gaelic football, hurling, baseball and American football. In real life he likes to play rugby, football, cricket and badminton. At present though he only regualarly plays football of a Sunday afternoon with a few friends. |
| What sports doesn't he like? | He used to believe that the most boring sport in the world to watch was cricket. He did not mind playing it but found watching it rather dull. But apparently one of his friends on his university course has started to pique his interest in such things and there is hope for the child yet... |
| Does he like computer games | The Master's favourite game is probably Sim City with Worms probably coming rather close behind it. Several friends keep telling him that Quake is absolutely wonderful but he has yet to see what makes it so special... |
| Does he have any favourite music | His tendancies here tend to be quite liberal as well. He's even prepared to give bands he has heard before and hated a second chance. That said he is most fond of rock and classical music. At the moment his particular favourites are Hootie & the Blowfish, The Beautiful South and Brian Adams. He also finds the music of Mike Oldfield to be very relaxing. |
| And what does he dislike? | As I said above he will give most music a fair chance. On the other hand, techno, rave and other 'beep-beep' noises usually get short shrift from him. Thank goodness. |
| What's his favourite song? | That would be tricky. 'Do I Have To Say The Words?' by Bryan Adams, Chris Rea's 'Tell Me There's A Heaven' and the Manic Street Preachers' 'A Design For Life' have been well loved for a long time but he has recently come across 'Between the Bars' by Elliot Smith which he adores. |
| What sort of weather does he like? | I believe he is most happy whilst walking in light refreshing rain. However when going on one of his 'short walks' which are normally at least 7 or so miles he normally likes it to be fairly warm with a nice breeze. |
| Well if he likes light rain, what doesn't he like? | Perpetual drizzle. |
| What sort of things annoy him? | He finds the commercialisation of Christmas quite vexing. He also find the kind of people who say comics are just for kids a strain on his patience. |
| How would you describe his personality? |
Well, when he was young he tended to have all sorts of mood swings. Its hard to believe but his teenage years were worse. He devolved into being morose, downcast, surly, cynical and pessimistic about his entire life and brooded on whatever miserable fate awaits him. It really was quite a depressing time. Thankfully he hasn't been that for a long while. These days he seems happier than he has been for many years. Indeed it is hard to stop him enjoying life, no matter what gets thrown in his path which is such a joy for those who saw him at his lowest ebb. |
| So who do you think his ideal partner would be? | Well, she would probably have to be an intelligent, friendly, kind, nice-looking girl just to attract him. It would certainly be a help if they had similar interests. Or if she could understand or at least cope with his weirder pastimes. |
| Do you know if there is any particular way he'd like to go? |
I think he woul prefer something heroic. Either that or in a nice bar, in good company, with a drink in hand and a smile on the face.
He has also expressed a desire to have his remains be placed in a boat, set alight and pushed out into a lake or into the sea. Just like his Viking ancestors... |
| Viking ancestors? | Indeed. The Master has quite a complex ancestry being born of an English mother and a Scottish father. The Scottish side of the family can be traced to the Highlands and beyond to the Shetland Islands, far north of Scotland and indeed close to Norway. The people of those Islands have a strong Viking heritage and though it cannot be proved it is likely he is descended from the ancient Norse warrior-explorers in some way. As well as his Scottish and Viking antecedants the Master is also bred of Yorkshire stock, a strain of which likely came from Ireland. So all-in-all the Master is a mongrel of most of the races that have populated these isles for many centuries. |
| What would you say his reason for living is? | Cats. He thinks cats are nice. |
| Seriously! What do you think he thinks is the meaning of life? | I think I shall paraphrase Christopher Claremont on this question. He has said before that he believes that "We have it within ourselves, as do all people, to leave our world better than we found it. To strive for the heights of our potential, to seek out the best in ourselves and in others, where others would have automatically assumed the worst. Yes that is an ideal, perhaps an unattainable one. But success is not important. What matters is the attempt. Perhaps even the simple fact that we live gives us the obligation to try." |
