The challenge of cathedral thinking

I GREW up in Oregon, US, in the foothills of Mount Hood, on a subsistence farm. The thing I particularly loved was contact with animals, milking the cows. I had to leave, however, before I realised how beautiful home was. My route to Europe was a year’s stay in Flanders, where I arrived as a 17 year old. I was introduced first to Bruges, and then to Romanesque architecture in France. Imagine what that was like for someone who had never seen historic buildings.’

It’s an unexpected introduction to the life story of the new chairman