In a post about the Ukraine war, I cited a column by Simon Kuper, of the Financial Times: “What if Russia wins?” I have now done a podcast, a Q&A, with Mr. Kuper: here. Very interesting fellow.

He has lived in many different places and written on many different subjects. He was born in Uganda to parents who had come from South Africa. His father, Adam, is an anthropologist. Simon grew up in the Netherlands, mainly. He lives in Paris. He has British nationality and French nationality. He also has a bit of an American past, for his father taught at Stanford for a while.

Like every kid in the Netherlands, pretty much, Simon was mad for soccer. “When I was 16,” he tells me, “I began selling articles about Dutch soccer. So I was a monied teenager, because in the ’80s journalism still paid.”

He went to Lincoln College, Oxford — “which also happens to be the college of Rishi Sunak, the U.K. prime minister,” he says, “although like most politicians these days he’s much younger than I am.” At Oxford, Kuper studied history and German. “I spent a year in Berlin after the wall fell. I was very, very deep into German at that time.”

Kuper is a well-known soccer writer. Among his books, however, is one about George Blake, the British spy for the Soviet Union. And another about Oxonians who lead the Conservative Party.

He knows soccer and cricket, yes — but he also knows baseball, football (ours), and basketball. This stems from his time in California. “My dad got me this book of baseball essays, and I read one by somebody I’d never heard of called ‘John Updike,’ and it was about Ted Williams, of the Boston Red Sox. And I thought, ‘Wow.’”

“Wow” is right.

In our podcast, we talk about sports. And France. And the Netherlands. And the media. And other assorted topics. You will enjoy getting to know Simon Kuper. Again, our Q&A is here.