PROFILE - PETER RHODES

You may know me as a salesman, but I'm also an author. I can sleep the Jewish Chronicle led to transcendental meditation - and the music industry. for the rest of my life is the title of my book. It is a love story that starts in the 1960s, told in the form of letters. It's a spiritual love story based on friendship, not a story about two middle-aged people 'having it off together', but two friends constantly separated by distance who fall in love. It is as yet unpublished, but one day I will find a publisher that isn't frightened of publishing a book of letters ...

Apart from my, ahem, 'talents' as an author, I've been involved in several different types of careers before achieving the dizzy heights of my current position. I've even met Winston Churchill (my claim to fame) along the way - well actually I was six years old at the time and dressed for a game of cops and robbers, but he did shake my hand!

I somehow ended up selling advertising space for the Jewish Chronicle as my first step on the career ladder, which actually may go a long way to explaining why I now practice transcendental meditation: a great stress reliever. I actually spend 25 minutes twice a day meditating and focusing on my mantra although I've yet to levitate! If it wasn't the Jewish Chronicle that drove me to meditation then it was probably working in 'ladies' knickers' at Marks and Spencer. I spent a great deal of my time chasing shoplifters out of the lingerie department!

I also worked for NME as a group advertising manager, but after a number of years joined International Exhibition Organisation, at that time the UK representative organisation of the Paris-based Midem Group. Initially I was sales director and now I'm managing director. We organise Midem, the music industry's version of the Cannes Film Festival and world's most important music industry event, as well as the huge television event, MipTV. I've met some of the rich and famous: George Martin, Prince Edward, Buzz Aldrin, the list goes on ... Sadly, I've never met any of the Beatles - their music is my passion!

The event I'm most proud of is MILIA, Reed-Midem's annual international content market for interactive media. It's held during February in Cannes, and is now in its fifth year. Last year we had over 2,500 participating companies from 58 countries - even the Americans, who typically stay at home, make an effort to come to this one! This year lots of big players, including Microsoft and Sony, will be making some very important announcements and most of the industry's software developers and publishers will be there, so this month should prove pretty exciting.

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