I’m pretty blessed when it comes to clear skin. I owe that to being Cape Verdian. My whole family has great skin. My grandfather is 80 but doesn’t look a day over 50. And we all love the sun, too, so blessed is an understatement!
Tolkien is considered the grandfather of fantasy and, for me, I consider myself the grandson, with Terry Brooks as the kind of crazy uncle of fantasy, being the one who brought me into it.
When I was a child, I loved old people. My New Hampshire grandfather was my model human being.
My grandfather lived to be late 90s on one side and on the other side, 70s or something. And my father died young, at 63. But he didn’t take very good care of himself.
I don’t have a traditional design background, but it’s inherent to me. My father was in the fabric industry, and even my grandfather and my great-grandfather were lace manufacturers.
I think about my grandfather who’s 89 years old, and the last thing he needs is more money out of his pocket.
Bihar has always drawn me, ever since I was a child, brought up on the stories about my grandfather Babasaheb Soman.
My grandfather Urey was my hero. He worked three jobs. He had a dry cleaner’s factory job in the day and a dry cleaner’s factory job at night and when that was done with that, he mopped floors in a restaurant.
One becomes a grandfather and one sees the world a little differently. Certainly the world becomes a more vulnerable place when one has a grandchild, or now I have two. And I think that possibly there’s some tenderness that came out of just time and age and being a parent and grandparent.
My grandfather bought me my first Marvel comic book when I was six years old, and since then, it has been an ongoing love. It was an ‘X-Men’ comic book.
I’ve met the Dalai Lama briefly, but I would probably say my grandfather was the wisest person I ever met. He was my mother’s father, an Indian, a family doctor, and very unlike me in that he was deeply religious.
My grandfather was a very strong personality. He certainly ruled his household with an iron fist, even though it was often gloved in velvet!
My grandfather went through a lot in his life.
My grandfather was a Pentecostal preacher, and there was nothing really modern that went on under their roof. We watched television, but they were very picky about what we could watch – old Westerns and stuff that wasn’t vulgar or violent at all.
My mother told me I was begging her to be an actor when I was four. My father and my grandfather saw at least one or two movies a week; they were film buffs, so I guess it just rubbed off on me.
My grandfather’s name is Victor but I’ve always called him Poppy George – I have no idea why! He loved racing Renault rally cars and passed that passion on to my father, Richard.
As my Sicilian grandfather used to say, you get more flies with honey than with vinegar, right?
It took me six years to get close to Picasso. I learnt a lot from him, and he was an absolute genius. He almost became my grandfather at the time. It was like he was a magician or something.
My grandfather was born in India and three generations of my family served there.
My grandparents were far more English in their manners than they were Chinese. For example, we spoke English at home, had afternoon tea every day, and my grandfather, who attended university in Scotland, would smoke his pipe after dinner.
Part of what I loved – and love – about being around older people is the tangible sense of history they embody. I’m interested in military history, for instance, because both my grandfathers fought in World War II. I’m interested in writing because one of those grandfathers wrote books.
You won’t believe it, but my grandfather named me. And the choices were between Sparkle, Sprinkle and Twinkle. So, thank God, they chose Twinkle.
I was told by my grandfather who was a minister that we all were put here on earth to be of service to one another, and it is quite gratifying to know that if I am able to be of help to one that is not able to help themselves then I am fulfilling my obligation as a human being.
I came from a family of scientists. My father is a microbiologist and my grandfather is an organic chemist. I had a very science- and math-heavy childhood.
Both grandfathers fought in different wars. My mother’s father fought in World War II, and then my father’s father fought in Korea. And they’re both these country boys, one from rural Tennessee and one from rural Louisiana – and they never went back home.
My grandfather was coloured, my father was Negro, and I am Black.
A piece that is extremely close to my heart is a gold ring with bouts of mint and baby pink that my grandfather gave to my mother and she passed it down to me. What’s sweet is that it has my grandparent’s name on the flipside.
I was blessed enough to talk to my grandfather the night before he passed, and he told me that everything was going to be okay, and I know he wanted me continue and do my best, be happy, and that’s what keeps me going.
My grandfather was a very courageous man, and I consider myself very lucky because I have three powerful role models that will obviously influence my career choices when I am older.
I spent time at my grandfather Dino’s gourmet store where he brought in chefs from Naples to cook. I thought of them as rock stars.
Playing with my grandfather, grandmother and my parents, I came to music pretty naturally.
I don’t know how many roles I can ask my dad to play in my life, but so far, father, best friend, role model, mentor and grandfather to my children are working out quite well.
My father never really encouraged me or even took an interest after I walked away from the family business. No one did except my mother and my grandfather. To be truthful, I cannot remember one meaningful conversation I had with my father.
Summer I was 13, my grandfather and my father taught me how to play golf. I took lessons that summer, and I played every day that summer. I probably would’ve kept playing, except I realized that girls don’t watch golf; they watch tennis. So I let my golf game go dormant and started playing tennis.
I started putting down my thoughts on paper out of loneliness while I was studying in America. I was very close to my grandfather, and when he died, I couldn’t visit home. I started scribbling those thoughts.
I’m quite sure that, had Twitter been of an age when my grandfather was prime minister, I’m sure they would have used it. He was a brilliant and gifted communicator.
My grandfather was wary of me being a part of the industry for various reasons, ranging from the fact that we didn’t know anybody; it was an unconventional career choice, and because he felt that I needed somebody to guide me.
Everybody thinks that this civilization has lasted a very long time but it really does take very few grandfathers’ granddaughters to take us back to the dark ages.
There is this image of a guy in a hot tub, drinking champagne with two buxom blondes. But that is not the real me. I am a father, and I am a grandfather, too.
My father was a Victorian product. He didn’t marry until he was over 40. I knew him more as a grandfather than a father. You didn’t lie or cheat with him. I would never have defied my father.
The Bible that I will take my oath on reminds me of the 100th anniversary of the end of the war to end all wars. It was a Bible taken into battle by my wife’s grandfather who had probably never ventured beyond three or four counties in North and South Carolina.
