In what commonly passes for real life, Christoph Nonn is a historian at Düsseldorf University. He is the husband of a very smart wife, Elke, who also happens to be a theatre addict, and two immensely cool daughters, Julia and Lucia. He does not like celery. He likes nuts, swimming, gardening, hiking, the Lake District, Dutch beaches, cooking, and books. He also likes (English) theatre. He joined TED on coming back from study in Britain in 1987. Sometime in the 1990s together with his wife he took over as one of the group’s leaders, tending towards a version of enlightened absolutist rule. He has acted in too many parts to remember, and now is also beginning to forget how many plays he directed or co-directed. He can hardly imagine a world without theatre for two reasons. One is the people. Second, even it is fake, it is still one of the best activities a person can do.