Tapescript 29.

Interviewer... and with me I've got Emily and Alex. Emily, what kind of questions did you ask?

Emily Well, the organizers of the event suggested a list of topics, you know, sort of pre-prepared questions, but I thought that they were very er artificial, you know strange. So I asked quite normal questions like, " Why did you come tonight? or 'Have you been speed dating before? ' or 'What do you like doing in your free time? ' I found that the conversation ran more smoothly when I asked people these kinds of normal questions.

Interviewer How about you Alex?

Alex Yes, same as Emily, really. I also asked quite normal things like, 'What do you do? Have you done this before? Do you enjoy living in Oxford? ' Things like that.

Interviewer Did other people ask you interesting questions?

Alex Yes, some were quite interesting. Ones I can remember are, 'If you were an animal, what would you be? ' Or, 'If you had to choose a different career from your current one, what would it be? ' One woman even said 'I've heard that you were in prison once - is that true? ' I don't know where she got that from!

Interviewer And you, Emily. Were you asked anything unusual?

Emily Not really! The most common questions were 'Are you American? ' or 'Where are you from? ' The second most common was, 'Why do you live in England? ' Although one person did ask me, 'If you could be invisible for a day, what would you do? '

Interviewer How did you answer that?

Emily I said I'd go to work and play tricks on my colleagues in the office like hiding things!

Interviewer How many matches did you get?

Emily I chose six men that I would be happy to see again, and of those six, four of them had chosen me too, so I got four matches.

Alex I got three.

Interviewer Did you go out with any of the people?

Emily Yes, I went on one date with a guy who teaches biochemistry at university. It was a bit of a disaster though, because earlier that morning I'd been to the dentist, and I'd had an injection, so by the time that we met for coffee I had terrible toothache and I was in agony. I had to go home after half an hour. We've exchanged a few emails since then, but we haven't managed to meet. We're both very busy. Also, to be honest, I don't think he's really my type. He seems to be really keen to get married and have children straight away and I'm not.

Interviewer What about the other three matches?

Emily The second man contacted me directly after the event and invited me to dinner. But then he sent me a text message the next day and cancelled. He said that he had met someone else. The other two have been in touch, but we haven't been able to meet yet. But in fact, I've decided that for the moment, I'm actually happy being single so I don't think I'll be speed dating again any time soon.

Interviewer How about you Alex?

Alex I emailed one of the matches, a woman I quite liked and we met at a bar in Oxford. At the speed dating event she seemed really bubbly and good fun, but after spending a few minutes with her it was very clear that we had nothing in common. The atmosphere was awful and it was all very awkward and I think she felt the same so we just finished our drinks and left. We didn't contact each other again.

Then I arranged to meet another of my matches. We'd really got on well at the speed dating so I was quite excited about meeting her. Unfortunately, on that morning, I'd found out

that I'd lost my job and I was really worried that I would not give the right impression because I was feeling so unhappy about my work situation. But actually, Susanna quickly made me forget everything and we had a great evening. We then met up the next day and went for a long walk. And well, to cut a long story short, six months later I took her to Paris and proposed, and two months ago we got married!

Emily Aaaah!

Interviewer So a real success story for you then?

Alex Absolutely!