Nick English and his brother, Giles, inherited a love of aviation from their father, an aeronautical engineer. As young boys growing up in the countryside, they spent much of their free time tinkering with cars, motorbikes, and clocks. In 1995, English and his father were practicing for a display in a 1942 aircraft when the plane crashed, killing his father and leaving English with more than 30 broken bones. Ultimately, that experience brought the brothers together, inspiring them in 2002 to create Bremont, the U.K.’s luxury-chronometer manufacturer, headquartered in Henley. Bremont’s expansion continues with several new boutiques opening this year, including in the United States. —Ashley Baker
Airline: BremontAir, our own 1950s military aircraft, also known as “the Bremont Bus.” Not particularly luxurious, but certainly memorable.
Airport: Compton Abbas. It’s more of an airfield, but very beautiful and soulful nonetheless.
Alibi: “I’m out walking Pedro.” My dog would definitely vouch for me.
App: AJ Bell. It’s fun to dabble in the stock market.
Bag: My rather battered Globe-Trotter travel case.
Bedtime: Always a couple of hours later than is deemed sensible.
Bike: The Brompton Electric. Great design and British-made.
Breakfast, weekday: Just coffee with oat milk. A little bit trendy and embarrassing to order, but addictive.
Breakfast, weekend: A big omelette with eggs laid by “my girls”—the adored and spoiled free-range Orpington hens who roam my garden.
Car: My racing Austin-Healey 100. A huge amount of fun and stacks of scariness, all in a beautiful early-1950s design.
Children: The wonderfully passionate and amusing Capucine Elymaude, Euan Antoine, and Elodie Oceane.
Cocktail: A dark and stormy, with dark rum and proper ginger beer.
Couple: My parents.
Date: December 6, my wife’s birthday. I have missed it twice in 20 years of marriage. Not recommended! A hot date would be a day in Maui on the sea and then supper at the fish market in Paia.
Diet: Intermittent fasting three to four days each week, unless there is food around. One can’t be left out!
Dinner: During the week, it’s anything I can find in the fridge. On the weekend, it’s the kids’ favorite—homemade pad Thai made through serious teamwork.
Disguise:
Not driving a silly old car.
Dress: Anything from Private White V.C. I also have a bit of a penchant for Lululemon men’s wear and shoes from George Esquivel, in Los Angeles.
Enemy: A lack of passion.
Escape: Our little place in Minorca.
Excuse: “I was going by Greenwich Mean Time.”
Family: The most important thing to me.
Fit: Enough to still fit into my wedding morning suit.
Flaw: Saying no.
Friend: One with loyalty and optimism.
Good-bye: “Cheerio!”
Hideaway: A cabin in the Charlevoix region of Quebec.
Hotel: The George on the Isle of Wight.
Indulgence: Historic-car racing and flying airplanes.
Insult: Not being remembered.
Kiss-off: “I’m sorry, what were you saying?”
Last Meal: The freshest sushi.
Lunch, weekday: Nothing. Lunch is for wimps!
Lunch, weekend: Whatever my daughters have experimented with in the kitchen.
Match: Borg versus McEnroe.
Movies: Jean de Florette and Top Gun. Variety is key.
Nonfiction books: The Lonely Sea and the Sky, by Sir Francis Chichester; Wonderland Avenue, by Danny Sugarman; and The Moon’s a Balloon, by David Niven.
Novel: For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway.
Piece of advice: “Time is just time. It’s what you do with it that counts.”
Podcast: The Rest Is History.
Presidents: Gorbachev and Mandela.
Restaurant: The Crooked Billet in Oxfordshire.
Ride: From Death Valley to Yosemite in my late father’s restored Series 2 E-Type with my brother in his own classic car.
Saying: “Life isn’t fair.”
Singer: Elvis.
Spouse: The incredibly bright, levelheaded, and gorgeous Catherine.
Storm: The day-to-day running of a luxury-watch manufacturer. We could have picked an easier industry!
STREET: Denmark Street, in London.
Television series: Slow Horses and The Night Manager.
Theme song to your life: “I’m Still Standing.”
Time of day: A beautiful summer’s evening.
Vacation: Summer in Minorca.
Victim: Anyone who is half empty.
Wake-up time: Seven a.m., and eight on the weekends.
Weekend bag: Small enough to fit a small vintage aircraft inside.
Work of art: Mankind, by David Yarrow.
Nick’s Essentials
