Nick read English and German at Durham University. He began his working life at Sotheby’s and was most recently CEO of the Rothschild Foundation. But for most of his career he was a diplomat, first meeting the ESU as High Commissioner in Malta. He was also Ambassador to Denmark and the Czech Republic and, on secondments, a private secretary to the now-King and a member of the executive board of UK Trade and Investment. He has had a life-long interest in languages, of which he speaks eight, and in the global use of English.