Getting personal with Steve Fidler

Who are you? Steve Fidler, 57, groundsman for nearly thirty years. Currently Head Groundsman at St James Senior Boys School in Ashford, Middlesex.

Family status? Married to Justine for seven years, no children.

Who's your hero and why? Ian Botham - plenty of on field heroics, supremely talented and the money he has raised for leukemia has made a real impact.

What would you change about yourself? I'd like to have been taller.

What's your guilty pleasure? Too many to mention.

What's been the highlight of your career so far? Winning the Schools, Colleges and Universities Groundsman of the Year award in 2013.

Which three people, living or dead, would you invite to a dinner party? William Shakespeare, Winston Churchill and Muhammad Ali.

Do you go to bed worrying about the next day's workload? Very rarely, the North Field Project led to a few sleepless nights.

What are you reading at the moment? Birdsong by Sebastian Faulkes - a follow up to a recent visit to the Flanders battlefields.

What are your pet peeves? Restaurants and cafes who insist on adding cheese to the entire menu.

If you could go anywhere right now, where would it be? Back to Africa, I'd like to take my wife on safari.

What's the best part of your job? I spend my days in the open air, in beautiful surroundings and get huge satisfaction from seeing a perfectly presented ground.

… and the worst? Having to call matches off.

Who would you choose to spend a romantic evening with? My wife of course! … and yes, she will be reading this.

If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would do? Revisit the previous question?… only joking, I'd retire, travel more and watch more cricket.

What's the best advice you have ever been given? Never let the weather take credit for your hard work … it won't take the blame when things go wrong.

What's your favourite smell? Bacon cooking - it's too much of a cliché to say freshly cut grass.

What do you do in your spare time? I enjoy most sports, mainly watching these days. I've just finished my last cricket season as a player. I intend to stay in the game as an umpire. I read quite a bit and occasionally do a bit of writing. My wife and I both love to travel as and when funds allow.

What's the daftest work related question you have ever been asked? The first question my wife asked when we met was; "how do get the stripes in the grass?", which may not be the daftest, but we still laugh about it.

What's your favourite piece of kit? It varies with the seasons but, overall, the Team Sprayer 6 metre boom sprayer.

What talent would you like to have? To play a musical instrument.

What law/legislation would you like to see introduced? A stop to cold calling and junk mail.