Penny speed meets... Bill Cooper, MD & head of global insurance, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets

What was your first ever job — and were you any good at it?
Packing medical supplies into boxes in a warehouse. Even now my wife makes me do all the present wrapping – I am a qualified professional after all

If an MP3 player really could only hold three tunes, what would you select for the ultimate soundtrack to your life?
Comfortably Numb — Pink Floyd (best guitar solo ever); Heroes — David Bowie (early memory of him on Top of the Pops really sticks in my mind); No-one Came — Deep Purple (obscure track from one of their classic early 70s albums)

Who was your top teenage pin-up?
Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore in Goldfinger

Favourite book of all time?
Casino Royale by Ian Fleming — tough choice between the various Bond books but the first one is the best

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
Keep calm

What would be your chosen 
superpower?
Invisibility – so I could sneak into meetings and hear what’s really going on

If you could be Prime Minister for the day, what change would you instigate and why?
Working for a firm 41% owned by the UK government, I’m afraid I’m going to have to refuse to answer that one – clearly too dangerous!

How would a typical school report about you read?
Very much depends on the subject. For things like art, I would have been criticised for doing very little work. I tried to avoid it as anything I did produce was so bad

My top tip for climbing the insurance career ladder is...
You have to be a student of the industry and really get into the detail of how it all works

What’s the most annoying thing people do in your office?
I am on dangerous ground here, but I guess it is untidiness

My last supper would comprise...
Pasta from a good Italian restaurant

Who has been the most influential person in your life to date?
This is going to sound twee, but there isn’t one overall. I’ve been lucky to work with some great mentors within Lloyds Bank, but also some really interesting customers over the years

When I’m not working I like to...
Fight a losing battle against age and injuries to stay fit

Last film you saw?
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two with my two younger children

If I wasn’t working in insurance I would probably be...
Well, I am a banker (there, said it!) and there’s plenty to do in the banking industry at the moment, so I’m sure I’d think of something

Name your five ideal dinner party guests (dead or alive), noting what they bring to the party
J M Keynes — who I am sure could easily explain what to do in the financial crisis; David Bowie — my musical hero and absolutely hilarious on chat shows; Stephen Fry — surely everyone’s ideal dinner party guest; Daley Thompson — my sporting hero; and Honor Blackman — in character from Goldfinger

Marmite: foods of the gods or work of the devil?
Devil definitely

Career high point to date?
Completing the Towergate financing transaction in February 2011 — loads of ‘firsts’ for us at Lloyds and a massive team effort by everyone involved

What do you say when strangers at a social gathering ask what you do for a living?
Take the bull by the horns – “I am a banker!” Then I usually leave the event quickly...

If you could travel back in time, where would you go?
1960s America – the optimism of the American dream, the beginnings of proper rock music, the early Bond movies