Hometown: Port Talbot, Wales, U.K. — same hometown as Richard Burton and Anthony Hopkins!
Current neighborhood: Leawood
Who or what is your sidekick? I’ve got five of them! My wife, Dawn, who teaches English as a second language at Johnson County Community College and is also a nutrition adviser. Then I have four mini-sidekicks: Lauren, 15; Adam, 13; Ethan, 11; and Caroline, 8.
What career would you choose in an alternate reality? Game-show host
What was the last local restaurant you patronized? Grinders West
Where do you drink? With four kids, I don’t get to trawl the city imbibing that much. But on occasion, I have been seen at the Blue Moose in Prairie Village, and my world was recently turned upside when I entered the doors of the Flying Saucer in the Power & Light District. I need to go back there!
What local phenomenon do you think is overrated? Those self-serve frozen-yogurt joints sprouting up across the metro.
Where do you like to take out-of-town guests? Renaissance Festival in September, Jack Stack and the Kansas City Zoo anytime. Many of my visitors come from the U.K. where they have arts and history out the wazoo, so we tend to do a lot of quintessentially American stuff they can’t experience there … like Worlds of Fun and big shopping malls like Oak Park.
Finish this sentence: “Kansas City screwed up when it ...” Failed to resolve the future role of Kemper Arena before constructing Sprint Center.
Finish this sentence: “Kansas City got it right when ...” There’s more to the metro than just KC, of course. I want to extend the glow of credit to the city of Overland Park, which built a phenomenal, state-of-the-art youth-soccer complex, all without taxpayer support, that is bringing in national-level tournaments to the metro. If you’ve played at this complex or simply seen it, you’ll know what I’m talking about. It’s first-class.
Finish this sentence: “Kansas City needs ...” To stop beating up on itself all the time. I’ve lived other places. This is an easy, amenity-filled city without the annoying ego of the East and West Coasts. Enjoy it!
What TV show do you make sure you watch? Restaurant: Impossible on the Food Network. Of course, all the other shows I religiously watch are on KCPT.
_________ take up a lot of space in my iTunes: Bob Marley and K’naan
What movie do you watch at least once a year? National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
What local tradition do you take part in every year? A Christmas Carol at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre
Celebrity you’d like to ride the Mamba with at Worlds of Fun: Mmm, I’m not sure. But it would have to be a personality I don’t like because I’m going to be throwing up on them!
Person or thing you find really irritating at this moment: Waiting behind someone at Redbox while they painfully decide which movie they want!
What subscription — print, digital, etc. — do you value most? The Week magazine
Last book you read: Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath
Favorite day trip: Overland Park Arboretum. Even many people in Overland Park are unaware of this free treasure in their midst, a gorgeous 300-acre wooded oasis where, even on the hottest of summer days, you can walk or run on the trails and be completely shaded by the trees.
Finish this sentence: “People might be surprised to know that ...” I attend WWE wrestling events at Sprint Center with my two sons, and I am first in line at Kansas City’s haunted houses when they open in the fall.
Describe a recent triumph: Just won a second Emmy Award for coverage of mental-health issues on KCPT. The hardware on the mantelpiece isn’t as important as the chance to be able to tell these important stories when funding of services for the mentally ill is being decimated.
Nick Haines hosts Kansas City Week in Review on KCPT Channel 19 at 7:30 p.m. Fridays.
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