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This is where the webmistress and some esteemed RAIG contributors attempt to answer questions submitted on the Interview! page that are good questions, but we feel have been answered in interviews already. Alternatively, because they are such easy questions that you should be ashamed that you didn't bother to actually read some of the matieral on this site before submitting them.

Note on January 26, 2003: Your webmistress is disabling the submit questions option because she doesn't have the brain capacity to deal with any more silly questions. Sorry.

  1. Where was Rowan Atkinson born?
  2. Has Rowan Atkinson ever considered playing a serious role in a movie or theatrical play, such as in The Phantom of The Opera?
  3. Is Rowan Atkinson a reader?
  4. Are there any pictures of family members - mother, brothers, wife?
  5. If he wasn't an actor, what would he be?

1. Where was Rowan Atkinson born?
Rowan Atkinson was born in County Durham, England. The press release for The Tall Guy claims Consett, but every other source says Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Alas, we are not familiar with the local geography, but our best guess is that Consett is a suburb of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Here's a map.

2. Has Rowan Atkinson ever considered playing a serious role in a movie or theatrical play, such as in The Phantom of the Opera?
Rowan Atkinson has starred in a couple of serious theatrical plays early in his career (not counting school plays). Notably, he appeared in The Nerd in 1984 and The Sneeze in 1988. The former was an American import by playwright Larry Shue in which Atkinson played the eponymous nerd. The latter was a collection of Chekhov-inspired shorts by Michael Frayn. Both received mixed reviews from critics and audiences alike. As to musical roles, while Atkinson can certainly carry a tune (just listen to such gems as I Like Bouncing from the NTNON days, or the duet Do Bears... with Kate Bush), we doubt whether Atkinson or the audience would be well-served by a full-length musical production.

3. Is Rowan Atkinson a reader?
Okay, this question was rescued from the In!Ter!View! page not because it's a bad question, but because it has been partially answered in a 1988 article. And precisely because the article is over 10 years old, we also magnanimously included it with the interview questions, so the contributor of the question gets the best of both worlds. In aforementioned article, Atkinson explains how he stumbled onto his first Chekhov play and how his producer 
"revealed that there were eight or nine of these things. [...] I am quite philistine. Mine was the relatively uneducated man's approach to the whole thing, but then that's generally my approach to everything. I'm quite glad, in a sense, that I'm not well read." There you have it; up-to-the-second reporting on how, at least 12 years ago, Atkinson did not consider himself a reader.

4. Are there any pictures of family members - mother, brother, wife?
I'm sure there are plenty of pictures of Rowan Atkinson's mother, brothers and wife - in his photo album. You certainly won't find any on this site. If you need reasons why not, we've got a whole pageful for you: read the Ethics section.

5. If he wasn't an actor, what would he be?
Rowan Atkinson was trained as an electrical engineer first at Newcastle then at Oxford University. As far as we know, though, he never worked a day as an electrical engineer, unless you count Mr Bean's more "electrifying" mishaps. Despite his meteoric rise in the world of comedy and the accompanying financial success, Atkinson's passport listed "engineer" as his occupation up until 1983 (Telegraph, 1999). Most journalists and his self-appointed biographer would have you believe that this was the result of a  lingering uncertainty about his choice of occupation. We find it just as likely that his passport wasn't due for renewal until 1983. Various sources also claim that Atkinson maintained an enduring interest in establishing a trucking business, more specifically a transportation service for theatrical equipment. Though he obtained his Heavy Goods Vehicle licence, we think that's as far as he got with the trucking company idea. So much for what might have been. Now consider what is: in addition to being an actor, he is also a producer, writer, and businessman. That's quite a gamut of occupations quite aside from his education, which wasn't entirely wasted; instead, it lives on through his avocation of car enthusiast.

 

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