ON more than one occasion while living in the UK over the past two years, I have caught myself looking out at the beautiful countryside and feeling almost as if I were at home. Although the past several years of my life have been spent living in various cities in the UK and US, my rural roots run deep.
Originally from a small town of just 368 people, my family has been raising cattle and farming the same land for more than 140 years. I acknowledge this may not be considered noteworthy in the UK, but in the US this has earned us special recognition from the Arkansas Agriculture Department. While my rural upbringing gave me an appreciation for fieldsports, it wasn’t until I moved to the UK that I pursued shooting in a serious way through my involvement with the Oxford University Clay Pigeon Shooting Club. Ultimately, it has provided me with a wonderful opportunity to connect my personal and professional interests in an exciting way.
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Rory Stewart - The former Cabinet minister and hit podcast host talks to Alec Marsh about the parlous state of British politics, land management and his deep love of the countryside
The gently spoken 51-year-old former Conservative Cabinet minister is a countryman at heart. That's clear: he even changes into a tweed waistcoat for the interview, which takes place at his London home and begins with a question about his precise career status. Having resigned from the Commons and the Conservative Party in 2019, the former diplomat and soldier has reinvented himself, first with an unconventional but promising run as an independent for the London mayoralty (abandoned because of COVID19 in 2020) and then as a media figure, co-hosting one of the country's most popular podcasts, The Rest Is Politics, alongside Alastair Campbell, the former Labour spin doctor.
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