My maternal grandfather Henri Février wrote operas that were performed in Paris and Chicago in the 1930s.

I have a 1989 Avanti convertible.

When World War II broke out, my father, Jean Sagnier, walked from Portugal to the English Channel, and then stole a dinghy to get to London.

My mother, Marie-Thérèse Henriette Hughette Février Sagnier, was a painter whose works were displayed in galleries in Paris and Washington, DC. She wrote children’s books, partied with St. Exupery, knew Picasso, and played the accordion.

I once played in a band called Idylwood.

I have a cat named Junkie. I got him from a recovering addict when I was working at a methadone clinic. The addict relapsed. A decade later I still have the cat.

I hit a deer—a 10-point buck—while riding my motorcycle.

I owned a red Ferrari Testarossa.

I play the pedal steel guitar and Dobro.

•  Both my parents were with the Free French in World War II. The Free French Forces (French: Forces françaises libres) were individuals or military units who joined “Free France” (la France libre), the resistance organization founded by Charles de Gaulle in London in 1940 to continue the struggle against the Axis powers.

• Sagnier means salt gatherer. It’s an uncommon name everywhere except in Barcelona, Spain, where a civic center is named after me.

• I have a black belt in Shorinji Kempo.

• My sister, Isabelle Aboulker is probably the best-known writer of children’s opera in the world.

• I was once detained by Spain’s Gardia Civil for sleeping in a vacant building.

• My late uncle Jacques Février’s renditions of Ravel and Poulenc’s piano works are considered the best ever recorded.

• I have an autographed photo of Gina Lollobrigida in my bathroom. It’s one of my prized possessions.

• I once interviewed Lou Reed.

• I worked at The Washington Post during Watergate and played guitar with Carl Bernstein of All the President’s Men fame.

• I had one date with Margaret Mead.

• I fell off a roof while playing Frisbee.

• My favorite cartoonist is Richard Thompson, author of Cul de Sac. Richard had to stop drawing when he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. He is the author of the best worst quote on writing: “Immune to the indifference of the masses, the true artist pursues his or her art in bitterest solitude, compelled only by the irresistible pull of the creative impulse.”

• I have been operated on 16 times for bladder cancer. Now that’s a fun fact…