Template:Who is the JC

File:Olly B.jpg

The JC yesterday. In the Big Easy, man.

Well, after ten years I suppose I should at least own up to who I am, so here goes: I’m Olly. (in Persian, “الی”. Geddit?) Interests, if they’re not obvious from this wiki, are financial services law, language, writing, guitars, cricket, books and mountains. And wikis: MediaWiki, which this site is written on, is the cleverest software, and I have learned a lot about it in the last decade.

While writing this wiki I’ve practised commercial law in NZ and the UK for 27 years, mostly inhouse at places I will not mention to protect their reputations as much as mine. I put in a stretch as a film and book reviewer — which I was pretty good at, as you will see from my fan mail — written a couple of books (the first one, The Montenegro Sanction, under the pen name Hunter Barkley, you can buy for a fiver from Amazon), released an album of angsty-but-ironic rock music (Dangerboy), played with my buddies in the same cool band, Supercheese, for longer than either the Beatles or Led Zeppelin managed, and drunk a lot of wine, all while being supported by my super-talented better half — whom I will spare the ignominy of naming — but she is a world-famous bridge teacher, artist and the most patient spouse on the planet.

The Jolly Contrarian started out life in 2012, as AmwellClear, as a fun way way of remembering the difference between Loss, Market Quotations, Close Out Amounts and Unpaid Amounts and just kept growing.

SEO folk: before you write to offer tips on how to differentiate the JC from its competition, remember: when you write satire about derivatives THERE IS NO GODDAMN COMPETITION.