Welcome to my first blog!

This is my first posting of a weekly blog which will touch on a range of subjects, including: higher education in the UK and the sometimes unusual culture that exists in universities and business schools; what actuaries do and an understandable commentary on current actuarial research and its impact (trust me, we are more interesting than you might think!); as well as random views on modern life. Comments will be personal, hopefully with a touch of humour and a hint of controversy.

We all know that first impressions are very important and we all instantaneously form opinions of others just based on their appearances. So what happens when we change our appearance? How do we and others react? Such a change is probably an irregular occurrence for most men, and certainly for most middle aged men.

So after decades of being clean shaven, I have grown a beard. I will say why at a later date. When I say decades, of course, there was a brief dalliance with a drooping moustache in the 1970s which, according to my mother, ruined my graduation photographs and made me look like a minor character from a Sergio Leone western as well as giving me a permanently depressed (or depressing) look.

So back to acquiring this beard. It is interesting to reflect on how people react – colleagues, family, friends, just acquaintances and indeed strangers. Do they comment? If so, why? What do they say? Are they being honest? In this case, about me, I have had compliments and the opposite of compliments (not sure what the word should be), I have had recommendations that I go to a barber and even an optician.

And then there are the complete strangers and the way that they react to a man with a beard. Two illustrations spring to mind, my wife and I were at a local restaurant. The table that we had booked was not quite ready and the manager suggested that we have a drink to while away the five minutes or so that we had to wait. So over to the bar. This fresh-faced young man says to my wife – Madam: what can I get you? Then to me – you look like a pint man, sir! A pint man. Suddenly, I have stopped being a slightly intellectual, middle aged professor with a beard and become a consumer of alcohol on an agricultural scale. Where did he get that assessment from?

On the second occasion, my wife and I were sitting in the Old Vic theatre, waiting for the performance of the Cherry Orchard (by Chekhov – you all knew that – with Simon Russell Beale in a starring role). The attractive lady sitting in front turns round and asks me rather expectantly a) if I have ever been to a Chekhov play before and b) if so, could I help her understand the style of the play and what the play would actually be about. So now, I have stopped being a slightly intellectual, middle aged professor with a beard and become an expert on Russian theatre and a great intellectual. Actually, the wife thought that this was an attempt at a pick-up, but I couldn’t possibly comment!

Presumably, women have to tolerate this stuff all the time – people reacting to how they look and making assumptions. They are used to it and probably get skilled at manipulating the opportunities provided.

And how do I feel – do I feel different? At one level, no. At another level, yes – because of the reactions of others and indeed the reactions of those who are impressed by the fact that someone as mature as I could indeed make a change at all.

Change is difficult and dealing with it is difficult even if you only change one thing. Add to that this aspect of our all trying to assess those we come into contact with in a “blink” (to use the Malcolm Gladwell term) – so that we can separate out the agricultural drinkers from the Russian intellectuals.