Getting to know... Laurie Rush

Laurie Rush is a Detective Sergeant based at Hemel Hempstead’s Local Crime Unit. He is also part of the family-run RushJudo martial arts club in Northchurch. He is a black belt 4th Dan and a UKCC Level 2 Judo coach.


What is your favourite food?

My favourite food is Indian, through work I have been lucky enough to have sampled some lovely home cooked Indian food!

What’s the most played song on your iPod?

Let It Go by Idina Menzel, from the Disney animated film Frozen (2013). I have two daughters aged four and seven and they play it non stop.

Favourite quote?

‘The harder you practise, the luckier you get’ – a quote from various sporting icons.

What is your Favourite thing to do to relax?

Anything to do with judo, either training, coaching or spectating.

Thing you hate doing the most?

Cleaning our tropical fish tank.

If you could have 5 famous people for dinner past or present who and why?

1. Karl Pilkington for his hilarious moaning

2. Barry Hearn the boxing promoter because of his interesting sporting stories

3. Jamie Oliver for the food,

4. Alesha Dixon because she is stunning

5. Freddie Flintoff because I think he would be a good laugh and again, he would tell some funny stories.

If you knew the world was ending in 2014, what would you do differently?

I would have gone to university and completed a degree – it is still an ambition of mine to complete one.

If you could witness any event past, present or future, what would it be and why?

Seeing one of my judo students win an Olympic title.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I had no ambition to be anything in particular, just happy.

What was the last film you watched?

Not a film, but I just finished the Breaking Bad boxset.

The show is an American crime drama which ran for five series, about a struggling high school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer.

He turns to a life of crime, producing and selling crystallized methamphetamine, in order to secure his family’s financial future before he dies.

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done?

Telling someone their father passed away on Christmas day.

What’s the best/worst gift you’ve ever given/received?

Best gift – my dad gave me some money just before he died, and we used this to pay for the IVF treatment which resulted in my daughter being born.

How would you like to be remembered?

“He was alright!”

What is your favourite thing to do or place to visit in Dacorum?

Without doubt – Rushjudo in Northchurch every Tuesday and Friday, with all my friends and family. Call 07908 789819 or visit www.rushjudo.co.uk for more about the club, which opened in 2009 thanks to the kind generosity of the late Gordon Rush.