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| Samuel West says: Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images |
The actor who plays him, Samuel West, also felt triumphant. He longed for rats to appear in his PBS series about local veterinary services in the late 1930s, and was also a rat fan.
"I've had five rats in my life and they were like baby substitutes," West said last month in a video interview from his family's home in North London.
In addition to "All Creatures," which began its third season in the US this month, West can be seen spying on his thriller "Slow Horses" on his Apple TV+. He talks about the days of searching for 100 birds, the years spent on one stamp, and why chamber music feels more like acting than acting.
1. Around Christmas 1977, at age 11, he began playing on the floor of the boy's bathroom at school. I play online every week now. The new edition has completely changed the game. Simpler, full of easy-to-learn mechanics, and very comprehensive.
2. Tom Phillips painted, wrote a book, created the art for his album cover, and wrote an opera called "Irma." I met him when he was 16 years old. Limited only by his skill and curiosity, Tom has shown that he doesn't have to do anything or he can do as much as he pleases.
3. Darcy Clothing This British clothing retailer was a very well-kept secret among his costume designers who had to buy many period shirts dating back to the 16th century. You can and everything is very high quality. Siegfried Farnon and I got our shirts there. I especially like the shirts worn by men in the 1930s, featuring long, pointed, soft collars with no reinforcement.
4. Stamp Collecting At a party 20 years ago, a woman pretended to be interested in stamp collecting and asked how many she had. Not a question she asks other stamp collectors. She realized that what she was after was accumulation. And I was wondering what the difference is between accumulating and collecting. I suddenly realized that collections are defined by what you exclude. It was incredibly effective.
5. Birdwatching If you could go birdwatching all day, you'd go to Norfolk, the best birdwatching county in the UK. He leaves just before sunrise, usually through the woods on the border of Norfolk and Suffolk, with a stop via Norfolk. He then follows his A149. I call this the Birdwatching Silk Road. Finish just after sunset while listening to the hooting of owls. Aim for 100 species.
6. Gem In our neighborhood is Gem, an excellent restaurant serving Greek, Kurdish and Turkish cuisine. Twenty years ago, before I came and ordered, do you want this? So I sat down and ate this kind of chopped kebab with tomato sauce and bread and butter.
7. Lagavulin 16 years About 15 types of whiskey are lined up on the shelves on the second floor. I don't drink quickly, so finishing takes me a while. But in winter it is hot and comfortable. The darker, peaty, and smoky the better. My favorite whiskey is probably Lagavulin 16 Years Old. This is the Scotch that Nick Offerman's Ron Swanson drank at Parks and Recreation.
8. The sleeper train to Penzance The train leaves Paddington five minutes before midnight, but if you have a sleeper, board at 10:30 pm, check into your room, and ask for whiskey. Please give me. And to the buffet car. You can go to the children before bedtime. They will knock on your door in the morning and bring you coffee, a croissant, or a bacon roll. It is she who has arrived in Penzance.
9. "The rest is history." If you're looking out the window or reading the newspaper and you think, "Oh my God, it's just a little dumpster fire," take a step back and let history go. Look at the times It was a bit of a dumpster fire to give a little more perspective on the fact that things have changed and horrible things have passed. There is an excellent series about the American Civil War.
10. The Mendelssohn Octet Felix Mendelssohn wrote his first version when he was sixteen. During his teenage years, the cello was his gateway to chamber music. The chamber music repertoire is sometimes more reminiscent of acting than acting. Because musicians are not only talented, but they are also practicing. As a whole, actors don't practice.