Meeting: Eva Schloss MBE

Today, it was my absolute privilege to meet Eva Schloss MBE. As a young Jewish girl living in the Netherlands in 1944, she and her family were captured by the Nazis and sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Her father and brother were killed at the death camp but she, her sister and mother, survived and were liberated in 1945.

If that's not amazing enough, after the war they returned to Amsterdam where her mother married Otto Frank, father of Margot and Anne Frank, author of The Diary of a Young Girl. Eva is Anne Frank's half-sister.

I popped by, what I thought, was the address of the charity she runs as I wanted to pick up some info about it, but it turns out it was her home address. She invited me in, we had a cup of tea and we talked about her past and the current state of the world.

It was truly one of the most remarkable discussions I have ever had with anyone and she even told me to take a photo to remember our chat by (I wasn't going to ask as it felt rude to). What an amazing lady and an amazing opportunity to meet someone who has been through more than I can possibly begin to imagine.

Meeting: Ian Livingstone (Fighting Fantasy Author)

Grabbed a quick pic with Ian Livingstone CBE at The Celtic Manor during a conference. For those who don't know him, Ian co-wrote the Fighting Fantasy game book series (with Steve Jackson), co-founded Games Workshop & is President of EIDOS (the games company that created Lara Croft).