Life's a cruise aboard flagship liner

RETURNING to his job on board the Queen Mary 2 on Tuesday is former Dover boy Paul Becque, who is the cruise director in charge of entertainment.

HOMEWARD BOUND: Entertainment director Paul Becque during a visit to Dover

Mr Becque has spent the past 18 years at sea, and is hoping to come ashore in the United Kingdom after this cruise and is looking for a career in television.

A former Dover Grammar School boy, Mr Becque lived at Tilmanstone and Hawkinge and now has a home at River. He is 38 years old.

It was at school that he developed his interest in drama, and then went into the cruise market. While he was working for Sun Cruises he was invited to apply for a job with Cunard.

He was flown out to Miami for an interview, and joined the QM2 earlier this year. This will be his third cruise on the ship.

"After that I would like to get into television, possibly as a presenter of a game show," said Mr Becque. "Ultimately I would like to work in television in the United States."

Nothing would have pleased him more than to sail into his home town on the Queen Mary 2.

"I did ask the captain if we could bring the ship into Dover," said Mr Becque.

"They tried it on a simulator, but the ship was too big, we kept hitting the harbour wall!

Mr Becque's sister Michelle, who went to Castlemount School in Dover, now lives in Seattle in America, where she is head of sales for Chanel in four states.