Getting personal: People who enrich the lives of others are my heroes

Margaret Fergusson, the wife of Governor George Fergusson, went to Oxford and taught briefly before joining the British Council.

She has combined this career with bringing up four children, accompanying her husband on postings in Dublin, Seoul, Boston, Wellington and now Bermuda.

She got bored as the wife of the British High Commissioner in New Zealand and trained as a primary school teacher in 2006. This helped when she then took on a training role in risk management; she continues to work part-time for the British Council from her new base in Bermuda, concentrating particularly on Information risk. She is patron of several charities, volunteers with Youth Net and sings in a choir.

Some 20-30 children now come each week to the children’s kitchen garden that she has opened at Government House with help from teachers, mentors from the community and Parks staff. She loves the natural world and Bermuda’s rich heritage. She is also a proud grandmother. Interview by Mikaela Ian Pearman. 

Your earliest memory?

The blue, candlewick bedspread on my parents’ bed in the London flat where we lived until I was two

What were you like in school? 

Small, round, noisy and competitive

Who is your hero/heroine? 

Bermudians running places like The Family Centre or the Centre Against Abuse, people who excel and who inspire and enrich the lives of young people. Ben Ainslie, Brian Lara, Adam Scatt, Jonathan Lemalu, Rodney So’ialu

Which human trait do you dislike the most? 

Jealousy

Human trait you value most in others? 

A sense of humour, not taking yourself too seriously

Which film character would you be? 

‘M’ [from the James Bond movies]

When did you last laugh out loud? And why? 

Just now, when my husband suggested that ‘M’ was my obvious film character

Do you believe in fate?

Yes, but I think you can have a good hand in determining Where the Fates take you ...

Your greatest fear? 

Harm coming to a member of the family, and I’m not that keen on birds in confined spaces or good at fairground rides

Most embarrassing moment? 

My boss from London coming to a very public dinner in Dublin, drunk and trying to chat up my most important (and unamused) contact ... grr it’s 20 years ago and I still squirm

Property aside, what’s the most expensive thing you’ve bought? 

A 35-year-old boat in Bermuda

Your ultimate ambition?

To embarrass my great-grandchildren

Best party you’ve ever been to? 

A long time ago — a grand relation’s 70th birthday party in Regent’s Park where we were surrounded by a wall painting of Lough Erne, including her boat

Anyone you’d like to say ‘sorry’ to? 

A girl at school who was always trying to be my friend

Worst job you’ve ever done? 

Worked in a deli as a Saturday job when I was 16 for a tyrant on stilettoes, just like Sybil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers

Biggest disappointment? Not getting a better degree

Biggest regret?

Not having managed to keep the children at school with us locally for longer

Closest you’ve ever come to death? 

A nightmare journey with our four children in a crowded minibus at night in Indonesia, much of it on the wrong side of the road

Your desert island song?

 Haydn trumpet concerto ... which our son used to play

What animal would you be and why? 

A wart-hog — I love their stick-up tails and the way they run

What do you do if you can’t sleep? 

Read or listen to the BBC World Service

If you had a time machine, where would you go? 

Forward I think, a 100 years to see how well we’ve all looked after Bermuda and one another

Your most memorable dream? 

A recurring nightmare of an exam morning where I have forgotten to revise

Most unpleasant exchange you’ve have had with a person? 

Being told early in my career by a boss who didn’t like me that he was countermanding a promotion I’d won in competition because I’d had too much luck recently

Best advice you have ever taken? 

Advice from my younger (teenage) brother on breaking an early relationship

What do you most dislike about your appearance?

Being told good things come in small parcels

What do you like best about your appearance? 

I can always wear heels

What’s your attitude to money?

It’s not directly linked to happiness

Nicest thing anyone has ever said to you? 

“It’s a girl” (three times) and once when they said, “it’s a boy”

Most treasured possession? 

My engagement ring

A dream location for a home? 

Definite dream this — south west of Scotland with a sea view ... and Bermuda weather

What keeps you up at night? 

Brain racing about a work deadline

Guilty pleasure? 

Watching period TV who-donnits or the latest version of Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch

Name some favourite:

TV shows/series: House of Cards, Landgirls, Foyle’s War, The Thick of It, Ab Fab, Twenty Twelve, the mockumentary series about the Olympics

Movies: Sliding Doors, Chocolat, Shakespeare in Love, To Kill a Mockingbird, Some Like it Hot, The Sting

Books: Middlemarch, The Time Traveller’s Wife, anything by Edith Wharton, The Unredeemed Captive

Dishes: New England clam chowder as prepared by Nick at GH

Vacation spots: St Just in Roseland, Cornwall; Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand, on the water or walking the track

Your attitude to exercise?

Bit like a puppy, I need to get out and cycle or swim each day ... headache if I don’t

If you were a pigeon, who would you poop on? 

That invisible person who drops litter on the Railway Trail or beaches

Pet peeve? 

Ungrammatical road/shop signs

If you won a million dollars, what would you do with it? 

Half to charity, half to help the children buy their own homes

Most daring thing you’ve ever done? 

Watching my family bungee jump in New Zealand, including my husband who should have known better

Most important lesson life has taught you? 

Look forward, not back.