Ambassador Q&A: Marcel Tel Haar
Good day to you Marcel. Do remind our dear readers where you reside!
I’m a Christmas baby, born on December 24th 1986 in the Netherlands. For 6 years now I’ve lived in Germany, next to the Dutch border. My father is a Dutchman but now I live in the house were my mother grew up.
You have a most magnificent moustache!
Well, thankyou! My facial hair journey began when I was a young man of 18. I began with long narrow sideburns. As my follicles flourished I matured to having cheeks of full mutton chops. Thence to friendly mutton chops with a styled moustache. I dropped the chops and kept the well waxed styled moustache. For 5 years now I have worn the moustache gifted by Mother Nature.
You wear it splendidly sir! How is it kept so fantastically full?
One day I exchanged moustache wax for a nourishing beard oil to keep the hair soft and sweet. I haven’t styled my moustache since that day - except with shampoo under the shower! It’s important to keep a full moustache supple and soft. I like my upper lip to be warm and inviting!
And you are also a champion!
I am. I have entered 4 beard and moustache competitions in Natural Moustache category. I was the Beardsterdam champion in 2017 and 2018, British champion in 2018 and my ‘tache was 4th at the Worlds in 2019.
Bravo sir! May I ask what you do for a living?
I work for an insurance company where my job it to fill in when a farmer can’t do the necessary work on the farms due to health issues of any kind. So I work continuously on different dairy farms. If you need to know how to milk a cow - just ask!
I shall bear that in mind! How do you travel to work?
I ride an old scarlet Piaggio Vespa scooter. It was my grandmother’s birthday present to my grandfather in 1984. As he got older and less agile, the Vespa was abandoned in a garage for a decade so I bought it from him and got it going again. It meant a lot to him to see it back on the road.
You’re a rather talented recycling artist too...where can readers see your work?
I like to reuse and recycle old pieces into functional artwork. I like to take dusty old things and make them shine again. I had the privilege to make a table lamp from Captain Fawcett’s Gentleman’s Stiffener whisky bottle. If you checkout @snordecor on Instagram you’ll see what I mean.
Who is that handsome hound in your Ambassador portrait?
He’s my stuffed dog, bought at an auction. He’s called Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig aka Willi and he still gives me a smile every day. Such a beauty - even after 31 years standing on an oak board. He doesn’t cost anything to feed either.
And finally, sir, do explain the noble nickname ‘Snorriemorrie’...
‘Snor’ is Dutch and ‘Schnorres’ or ‘Schnurrie’ is German meaning ‘moustache’. So some friends call me ‘Snorrie’. But there’s more to it. In Dutch ‘Schorriemorrie’ means Riff-Raff. And in German it’s ‘Schnurremurre’. So, like in English, Riff-Raff means a disreputable bunch of people, not respectable. A disapproving upper class way of referring to the working classes. I wear a flat cap, typically associated with working class men so I’m the Riff Raff! It also means discarded or otherwise useless stuff. Which I repurpose as functioning art.
So Snorriemorrie isn’t just a funny word. It means something. And something to be proud of.
Indeed! Huzzah to that! AHTH!
FOLLOW MARCEL HERE: https://www.instagram.com/snorriemorrie/