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Chapter 13get it started. I left there about ten thirty pm. We said ourgoodbyes and he shut the door. As I walked away, I heardsomeone say very quietly “Hi there” I turned and there shewas, smoking a cigarette and slightly shivering in theNovember air. I went to talk, but she whispered, “Shush, I likeyou, phone me,” and gave me a little piece of paper with hermobile phone number on. “Go now” she said and smiled. Goodstrong white teeth as well. I had earnt about four hundred pounds from the pensionand been propositioned by a beautiful girl; they say lifeinsurance is a mugs game. We arranged for me to pick her up at the corner of the endof her road where she lived at one thirty pm. The sun wasshining, but it was cold. A November day in London. She wasstanding at the corner as I drove up. Hands in the pockets ofher duffle coat, slightly crouched, to ward of the chilly southeastern wind that went straight through the body, no matterwhat you wore for protection. In the coat, she looked small andvulnerable, when she saw me, she smiled and her whole facelit everything up like a summer’s day. I clicked the door openand she got in and said, “I didn’t think you were coming.” I replied, “I’m not late.” “I don’t know, I just had that feeling, you wouldn’t come.” I pressed my hand into hers, to reassure her that I was here,her hands were freezing. I said, “I know a nice pub down theroad with a lovely big inglenook fire place and a real log fire.”She squeezed my hand, smiled and said “my name isSamantha”. Have you ever had that feeling, where you havebeen with someone and you wouldn’t want to be anywhereelse. 195

Chapter 13 The pub was busy, but we managed to find a table asanother couple were just going. The table was near enough thefire to be able to feel the warmth radiating from it. She sat downas I went and got the drinks. I walked back to the table with thedrinks, she had taken her coat off and laid it over anothernearby chair. She had a lovely figure but her tits lookedenormous under her jumper. I thought how nice it would be tojust suck her nipples. “Feel a bit warmer” I said and sat down. “Yes, this is lovely, but in this weather, do you know whatthe best way to keep warm is.” “No, what’s that” “Making love in a bed.” Fucking hell, I thought, this is even a bit quick for me. “The problem is I’ve got nowhere to take you” I said. “I have my own apartment, we can go there.” It was a council flat, she was on income support and hadn’tworked for a while. The local council had taken intoconsideration that her old man could be violent and so movedher there. I thought he had been a gentleman, when he decidedto let me arrange a personal pension plan for him. At the pub, she told me that she had been a prostitute forthe last couple of years and had caught a sexually transmitteddisease. Luckily she was able to be cured and she showed meofficial documentation to prove this. I was pleased to see this,as some STDs cannot be cured, and I wanted to fuck her verymuch. She seemed vulnerable, like she had given into life, thiswas as far as she was going. Don’t get me wrong, she wasintelligent and smart. Nobody’s fool but what had made her goin this direction? I don’t know. Samantha said, “I intend to go back to prostitution but asI’ve been out of action for a while, I need to get back into the 196

Chapter 13swing of things and this is where you can help me out.” I’vebeen propositioned several times in my life, but never like this.I said, “If I give your pussy a good licking, the next morning,will I have a pimple on my nose.” She replied, “there’s only oneway to find out” smiled and said, “do you still like me, or haveI spoilt it all for you.” I replied, “I want to make it with you,more than ever.” She finished her, half of lager and said, “let’sgo then.” The flat was very bare. A settee and two chairs, a coffee tableand light stand. We went into the bedroom, a double bed.Samantha said, “Just stand there.” She knelt down and undidmy belt, my fly buttons and pulled down my trousers andpants together. She said, “Oh, so your already turned on a little.I just want to see something” and gently started to massage mycock, which become hard very quickly. Believe me, this girl wasnot just beautiful, but because of her half cast colour, she hadan attractive sexual quality that I had never encounteredbefore. Her face had white features until you got to her mouthwhich had full negro lips, to die for. She put my cock in hermouth and now, those wonderful lips were wrapped allaround it. She took my cock out and said, “This is a nice bigcock, a good shape as well, just perfect for fucking me back intoshape.” Who was I to argue. We undressed and got into bed, and initially gave eachother a good snogg and cuddle; while our bodies warmed upthe cold white sheets. The first thing I made a beehive for, wereher fantastic tits. I have never seen tits like this before in mylife. Because they were so big, they hanged fairly low. If I had,had a smartphone then, I would have taken pictures of them allnight long. I sucked, licked and gave them little gentle bites allover, while she giggled because she knew what a turn on theywere. My tongue went up and down and around the nipples 197

Chapter 13until they were big and black. All the time her hands andfingers were playing with parts of my anatomy. One handcaressed very gently up and down my spine, while the otherstroked my bum and then gently, two fingers went up anddown the hole in my ass. I went down to her pussy and started licking. The pussylips were nearly black and the rest of it, clit and …. were a dirtybrown and smelt like fish and peanuts. I nearly came straightaway, I have never been turned on by a pussy in quite that way,before or since. I caressed her clit with my tongue and thensucked it gently and massaged her G spot. Moans of pleasurecame from her and she said, “I don’t get pampered like thiswhen I’m working.” I slightly looked up and saw hermassaging her breasts quite strongly. Then she said, “Roy fuckme now.” The day outside had clouded over quite considerably and afew snow drops were beginning to fall and In-between our lovemaking and in the cosy comfort of the sheets and blankets, shetold me more about herself. She was twenty one. Her dad camefrom Jamaica and her mother was white English. WhenSamantha was twelve the mother run off with another man. Sheleft the father a note and they never saw her again. The fatherseemed to blame Samantha, like she was the mother. He didn’tilltreat her but showed her no love. Samantha then showed me that her two lovely front teethwere false. Her father had found out that she had an affair withhis best friend; he then proceeded to beat her black and blueand in the process, knocked her two front teeth out. The day was Tuesday. We arranged to meet again on theThursday afternoon. Some words stay in your memory forever.Samantha said, “Are you going to make love to your wifebetween then.” I replied, “Probably, yes, I would think so.” 198

Chapter 13Then, she said those words. “Make sure darling, you’ve still gotenough love left for me” I thought to myself, I think I’m lucky,to have my two front teeth. Thursday came, and I drove over to Samantha’s flat. Shehad some marijuana and asked me if I would like some. I said,“It sometimes has a negative effect on me.” She said, “Not thisstuff babe, it’s cannabis from the sativa plant, we will just feelgood together.” So, we smoked a little and chatted and thenundressed and got into bed. The effect of the marijuana was allgood. We kissed for a long time, our two naked bodies together.We giggled, we laughed and we loved. Terrific, a day toremember and I always will. On the Saturday evening at about 7.30pm, me and Annwere in our lounge having a vodka and tonic. We werelistening to Daryl Hall and John Oats on our music player,before going out to our favourite Chinese restaurant atCoulsdon. The phone rang. It was Samantha. By the sound ofthe background noise, she was with friends. She said, “I’m withfriends and we have got nowhere to go and I want to be withyou. Can we come over?” I replied, “I’m sorry, but I can’t talkbusiness now, I will come back to you on Monday.” And putthe phone down. I said to Ann, “Clients should know betterthan to ring you on a Saturday night.” I rang Samantha on the Monday and said, “Samantha, whatare you doing, ringing me up on a Saturday night. You musthave known my wife would be with me.” She replied, “I’mreally sorry Roy, I was high and really wanted to be with you.”I said. “But you had people with you.” She said, “I know wewere all high on coke. Sorry Roy.” I said, “Yes, I know thesethings happen. Look, I’m very busy for the next couple of days.I will ring you towards the end of the week. Is that ok?” Shereplied, “That would be good, I will look forward to it.” 199

Chapter 13 I never rang her back and we never saw one another again.The cardinal rule was broken and If she and her friends weregetting high on cocaine, it would definitely be broken again. I really liked Samantha. She was a highly intelligent person.Kind and loving. In her life, she had, had some very, very badtimes and lost her way. If I had been unattached, I would havetried everything I could to have put her back together again.But I wasn’t single, I was married and wouldn’t allow anyoneor anything, to come between me and Ann.I was travelling to visit a perspective client at his home in Wallington, Surrey. He was an electrician, so a possiblepension plan with Life cover, might interest him. It was a cold,grey morning with a dark sky threatening rain. I was hoping Iwould reach his place before it came down. Pleasant semi-detached house. He answered the door and showed me into theliving room. We sat down and discussed the pension.Suddenly, his daughter came in. She was about fifteen years ofage, very beautiful, with a lovely figure. She was wearingcotton flannel pyjamas and had obviously just got out of bed.As she brushed by me, I felt her warmth and her aroma, whichwas of course, very pleasant. She then went over to her fatherand gave him, what looked like, to me, a very, very sexy cuddleand a kiss on the cheek. It made you feel nice, just looking at it.She then turned around to go back out the room. As she wentbye, she smiled at me and gave me a wink. I thought, fuck this,I’m going to join a monastery. I was in the council flat of a man, described by all that knewhim, as a very hard villain, with deadly friends. He seemed avery nice man, a lot of them are, until you cross them. His wifewas there and their two daughters. Normally, if it’s a big house, 200

Chapter 13you talk to the father and mother and the children aresomewhere else in the house doing what they do. Possibly,because it was a flat, they didn’t. Anyway they were all sittingthere listening to me giving my presentation of why the fatherand mother should have some life cover. Probably, the fatherhad thought that when he was around, everyone else shouldhave lifer cover. Fortunately, I was able to convince them andwe completed the necessary paper work. We said our goodbyesand I left. As I went to my car, you’ve guessed it, two voicesspoke to me. One said, “Roy, you can take us out any time youwant.” The other one said, “Take us both out Roy and wepromise you, we will give you the best sex you ever had.” Isaid, “I would love to girls, but I’m married and totally faithfulto my wife. But your both beautiful girls, bye darlings,” and Igot into my car very quickly. When I gave a presentation, whether it was to a family orcompany directors and their employees, I was also sellingmyself. I was very professional. My hair was perfectlygroomed, dark stylish suit, silk tie, white cotton shirt withexpensive cuff links and black Italian shoes. I did weighttraining, three times a week and played tennis three times aweek. To me a presentation was like going on stage, in a FrankSinatra sort of way. Everything had to be perfect. If you haveseen Sinatra on stage you’ll know what I mean. Also, althoughI was thirty, I looked twenty one. I always looked very youngfor my age. Put all this together and then sit twoimpressionable young girls in front of me for an hour and anhalf and they’ve got no chance. Even if they had been of a legalage, I would not have got involved. Because if I had upset theirfather, what he would have done to me, no one would haveknown. Because I would have simply, disappeared. I certainly 201

Chapter 13had as many sexual opportunities in insurance as I had, had inmenswear.Driving over to Bermondsey to see Tony Mannsati, a carpenter, about a personal pension, I hadn’t seen himbefore. I had been recommended to him by an existing client;most of my business now was with existing clients andrecommendations. Fifty percent was mortgage business. As I turned into Tower Bridge Road, I heard a heavyspluttering plop. Oh what’s the fuck that, I thought andstopped the car. I had a flat tyre. What do I do now? I phonedTony and explained my situation; that I had never had a flattyre before and didn’t know (and didn’t the fuck want to know)how to go about changing it. He didn’t say “get stuffed, I nowwon’t have a boring insurance man talk me into insanity.” Hesaid, “No problem, I will be over in ten minutes and sort it outfor you.” As good as his word, he was over within ten minutesand changed the tyre, with the spare one, which fortunatelyhad a good legal tread. I then followed his car back to his home. His ancestry was definitely Italian. Tony was a nice lookingman with a lovely personality and a lovely wife and made mefeel very welcome with his hospitality. But, no matter what Isaid, he didn’t feel that now was the time to take out a pensionwith attached life cover. Then his daughter arrived home fromwork. Wow, what a lovely girl. She looked like GinaLollobrigida, but better. She said hello to me and then went andgave her father a kiss and said, “Is this Roy, who is arrangingthe pension for you.” Tony then introduced me to her, and hername actually was Gina. He said, “I don’t think I will take it outtonight, I don’t feel the time is right.” Gina, then asked me todiscuss the pension details with her, which I did and then she 202

Chapter 13went over it again with her father and then said he should letme arrange it now. He declined. She then took him in hand andin no uncertain terms insisted that he take out the pension withtax efficient life assurance attached; otherwise she would neverspeak to him again. He did what he was told and I sat theretotally dumbfounded She was my hero for life. I completed all the documentation,said my goodbyes and departed. I would never forget thismeeting and the girl I had met during it. Six months later, Ginaphoned me at my office and told me that she was now married.She had been going steady with husband Frank, for about ayear or so and they had now found a property they wanted tobuy. Would I arrange the mortgage for them? Had she spoken to the people who had recommended meto her dad. Cannot remember who they were now and don’thave the files available. Perhaps they had told her, I was a very,very good mortgage broker. So, she thought, on the night I waswith her dad, if she could get into my good books then I wouldowe her one. Probably not, but it was just so unusual to have abeautiful girl come in, just as I was discussing pensions andtake over the whole meeting and sell it for me. Never happenedbefore and never happened since. I arranged to go and see them. Snow still lay on the ground,but the day was fine and dry, so I decided to park the caroutside the estate and walk that bit further to their apartment.Frank was a nice enough guy, but not nice enough for Gina. Heseemed like a man who liked to be in control. I had seen thatGina was very good at being in control, she didn’t need anyonein control of her. He looked like he was pretty capable in thesex market, but not very reliable out of it. Perhaps having seenGina in full flow, I was bias. We arranged the mortgage. 203

Chapter 13 A year later Gina telephoned me. She and Frank now had ababy of nine months old, a little girl. They needed a biggerhome and had found one in the same area. Their property wasunder offer, so they needed a mortgage. Gina opened the door. She looked as lovely as ever, but alittle worn out. Well, I thought, how much is that down to thebaby, or down to Frank. The baby was crying because I hadinterrupted her feed, so Gina finished feeding her. Did the restof the things you have to do afterwards and then eventuallylaid her down. “And, how are you Gina?” I said, she replied,“Oh, you know, surviving.” Oh dear, I thought. She was notthe Gina I knew, positive, confident and looking forward to life,if not in the fast lane, pretty near to it. “How’s Frank?” I said,“You know Frank.” She replied as she tided the babies clothesup and put some of her toys away in the cupboard. As she wasdoing this, she said several times “Roy, I would do anything toget this mortgage.” I couldn’t understand why she was sayingthis, because there was no problem with regard to me gettingthem the mortgage. Then she held my hand, looked into my eyes and said, “Iwould do anything you want to do, if you can get us thismortgage.” I looked into her eyes, she had beautiful Italianalmond eyes. She was wearing very casual, sort of scruffyclothes, which made her look absolutely fucking gorgeous andI mean the pun. I thought I would like to go down and suck herpussy and have her going up and down on my cock singingride him cowboy, more than anything in life and after that Iwould gladly die. But I also felt upset. I said, “Gina, I really love you and your family, and I promise youI will get you the mortgage. Now if you want to sit down I willgo over the costs with you.” 204

Chapter 13 She released my hand, sat down and we went over all thedetails. We didn’t mention anything more, about what she hadsaid to me. I wanted to make love to her more than anything in theworld, but no way. Her family had shown me the utmostrespect and Gina was going through a terrible time which madeher very vulnerable. Evan I couldn’t take advantage ofsomeone in that position. Mind you, you know me by now, I’veregretted it ever since. Nine months later, Frank phoned me. He told me that heand Gina had split up. He now lived with another girl and wasthinking of how she could buy her property. She had been acouncil tenant for over three years in her property and hadnever been behind with her rent. She also had a good creditrecord. So was a perfect candidate for ´a right to buy` scheme.The property was looking over the Thames, so looked a goodinvestment. (The Right to Buy scheme is a policy in the UnitedKingdom (with the exception of Scotland since August 1st,2016) which gives secure tenants of councils and some housingassociations the legal right to buy, at a large discount, the homethey are living in.)I went over to see him. I had no intention of getting them amortgage, I just wanted to find out more about how it all wentwrong for him and Gina. After everything, I was intrigued toknow more. The flat was a reasonable size and if you looked hardthrough the lounge window, between another two blocks offlats, you could just about see half inch of the Thames. Whichwas enough, to make this a good investment. Frank was hisusual confident self and his new partner, whose name I can’tremember, was also very hospitable. She was older than Frankand had two children. Now look, I knew nothing of the 205

Chapter 13circumstances, which led to Frank splitting up with Gina andending up here. Because he was with his new partner, I didn’tfeel like asking too many questions. That didn’t stop methinking of how he could leave a girl like Gina for this situation.Perhaps Gina found out he was carrying on and kicked himout. All conjecture of course. I was left feeling very despondentabout the whole situation. What makes this whole episode even worse for me, is that Ihave no idea of what happened next. There must have been alot going on in my life at that time, although, I’ve always had alot going on in my life. Don’t we all? I don’t remember talkingto Gina anymore or her family. After all that had happened, Icannot understand why I did not go back to see her. Gina, youmight be the only one who reads this book, if so, please get intouch and let me know how you are.David Cole. Managing director of TMP partnership Ltd. It may have been a partnership, but David was the man incharge. Very good conversationalist, intelligent, street wise,chain smoker and alcoholic. I was introduced to him, by hisaccountant, Mike Kapnisi. The offices of TMP were in Beckenham Road, Beckenham,Kent. The first meeting I had with David went very well andwe both seemed on the same wavelength. The company’s mainbusiness was maintenance and security which covered a widearea, from all over the south east of England to Kensington inLondon, where they looked after Associated News Papers. David was always at loggerheads with his partners andwhen we were together, would slag them off unmercifully. 206

Chapter 13When I was talking to his partners, they would do the same tohim. All’s fair in love and war, and business. Me and Ann, often went out with David and his wife Linda.We would drive down to his lovely house in Kent. He wouldthen drive us all to their favourite restaurant in his Rolls Royce.We would really have a good time. He wouldn’t touch a dropof alcohol the whole evening and like most alcoholics, and I’veknown quit a few, when he was not drinking, he was excellentcompany. We would then go back to his home, where the non-alcoholics, would have a few more drinks and coffee. Then meand Ann would stay over in one of his very comfortable onsuits. He once hired a fair sized yacht out for all his best clients,employees, directors and close friends. A band played and thefood was very good. Waiters very professionally looked aftereveryone. Even the weather was lovely. Warm and sunny witha slight breeze. It was as good as any of the cruises organisedby Abbey Life on the conventions. With David not drinkingalcohol, he was the perfect host. Sometimes, when you have a good client, you must investinto the relationship with that client. Me and Ann, often spenta lot of time buying antiques for our lovely home inKingswood. We would stay at a nice old hotel, in the best suiteof course, and visit South Godstone and the Lanes in Brighton.On one such visit we came across a lovely porcelain figurine.Beginning 18th century. A very pretty lady. The one thing thatspoiled it was a small hole at the back of her resplendent dress.I asked the dealer if he knew of a very good, the operative wordbeing “very,” restorer. He said he did and that he was confidentthat the restorer would be able to restore the figure back to itsoriginal glory; and only the trained eye would be able torecognize that it had been restored. Fair enough sunshine, let’s 207

Chapter 13give it a try. The dealer said it would take about a week. As wewalked back to our car, Ann said, “Do we really need thatfigure, we already have several like it.” I replied, “It’s not forus Ann, I was thinking of it being a Christmas present for Davidand Linda. It will go perfectly with the antiques in their home.”Ann replied, “I hope so at six hundred pounds.” (A lot ofmoney in those days.) At the first meeting in David’s office after Christmas, Hesaid to me, “Roy, Linda was over the moon when she openedyour Christmas present. She really loved it. She said that it wasfirst time ever, that anyone had bought them a present, that shereally wanted. Thanks Roy.” In the next year, David recommended me to variousbusiness acquittances that he knew and I completed some goodbusiness with them. I worked out that I earnt from hisrecommendations, just over 15,000 pounds in one year. Not abad return on 600 pounds. And of course you have to also takeinto account all the future business I received from theserecommendations. Oh, and I forgot, all the recommendationsthat I received from them. So remember, occasionally give agood client a wonderful expensive present and ask for nothingin return. Instead of only going to see him, when your makingmoney from him. Linda’s 40th birthday. Ann was meeting her at OxfordCircus, 10am. Then they would go shopping. We would allmeet up at 1.30pm, at the world renown Scott’s SeafoodRestaurant, Mayfair, London W1, where David had arranged atable for us. David and myself arrived within five minutes ofone another. So, we went inside to have a drink while wewaited for the ladies. David of course was not drinking alcohol.The ladies turned up half an hour late, they had obviously beenenjoying themselves. If David had been drinking alcohol, he 208

Chapter 13would have been on the floor by then and nobody would havebeen enjoying themselves. We were all sitting in the loungearea having a drink when a striking threesome was shown totheir table in the restaurant. Michael Parkinson, Patrick Macneeand Bruce Forsyth; all wore light grey suits. The meal was excellent. We travelled by black cab, toVictoria Station and then went our separate ways by BritishRail. A day to remember. One day, David rang me and asked me to go and see ayoung man, who he had brought in as a director to run a smallbathroom company which he had acquired; he wanted me tosort out his pension arrangements. The office and showroom were on an industrial estate,somewhere just outside Dartford. These sort of places all lookthe same to me, they are not the sort of locations that oneremembers with fond affection. The young man, whose name Icannot remember, was about 21 yrs. of age. 5ft 10 ins tall, andvery good looking with thick dark brown hair, cut verystylishly. He was dressed casual but stylish, was intelligent andhad a very open relaxed personality. He showed me around theshowroom, commenting on various bathroom furniture andtelling me what ideas they had for the future. I arranged the´Directors and Executive Retirement Plan` for him, we said ourgoodbyes and I drove back to my office. I phoned David Coleand reported to him all I had done. He was pleased. Three weeks later I had occasion to visit one of the otherdirectors at the TMB offices in Beckenham. During our meetinghe told me that David had come out. (For readers who mayhave other things on their mind. This means he washomosexual.) And also, yes, David had run off with his toy boy.Well, if I had been that way inclined, I suppose I would run ofwith him too. 209

Chapter 13 Joking apart, it was a very sad situation. David and Lindahad been married for about thirty five years, they started out ina council flat with nothing. David started TMP while they werethere and slowly worked he’s way up, with Linda being thesecretary and bringing up their two children. The two children,a daughter of about seventeen and a son of eighteen, who bothlived at home, must have been upset and a little disorientated.It’s hard to imagine just how upsetting this must have been forall of them. Another client, not in the same category as David, but aclient all the same, was a Rover mechanic. (At this time Roverswere a very good and prestigious car.) Ron had taken out apension and several other policies with me. I had known himand his wife for some years; they had two lovely children, fiveand six. The wife, Julie, was about thirty five and veryattractive. They also had a young nanny, who was abouttwenty one. The nanny, Jennie, was absolutely drop deadgorgeous. I didn’t see much of her: she kept the children andherself out of the way when we were discussing the policies. Julie would sometimes get impatient with Ron, if hecouldn’t understand what I was trying to explain to him aboutthe policies but generally they seemed happy enough. Theyhad been married for about twelve years. They had a nice houseand seemed the perfect family. So, I went to see them to review their policies. When Iarrived, Ron answered the door and let me in. He seemed verymiserable and after he had poured us a cup of tea and we satdown, he told me that his wife had run off with the nanny andtaken the children with them. Apparently, the two of them hadbeen having an affair for some time; they’d fallen in love anddecided to live together. 210

Chapter 13 I had clients in Catford, London. Frank and Allen, they rana mini cab business. I was introduced to them by theiraccountant, Mike Kapnisi. The company was starting to grow,and now was the time to talk about a company pension scheme. I drove over to see them, the appointment was for ten thirtyin the morning, a journey that always pissed me off. More now,since I was seeing more and more clients at my offices atGatwick. A combination of boring rush hour traffic, but totalalertness of the dangers of the road. One false move, then allparticipants exchanging insurance details, with the rain pissingdown on our heads. I parked the car into a space they hadmade available for me. It was pouring of rain, from blackclouds that knew no respite. I opened my car door and bucketsof water poured in. I got out of the car with my umbrella in theother hand as quickly as possible, while shutting the door; Iarrived at their office feeling like a downed rat. We did the business and signed the documents. One of thedirectors was Franks wife, Jackie, so we needed a signaturefrom her. Frank phoned her and arranged for me to go over andsee her there and then. I arrived there just after one thirty. Sheopened the door with her two young children each side of her,they were three and five. Jackie was only young herself. Wewent into the sitting room and she asked me if I wanted a glassof wine, which I declined. On the table was a half-filled glass ofwine. She said, “I will just go and top mine up.” She came backwith a full glass of wine. This was a very big wine glass. We satdown and she knocked the glass of wine over. You can imagine,it made quite a mess, but as she pointed out, it could have beenred. She wiped it all up and then went to get another glass ofwine. We went over the paperwork briefly and then she signedthe necessary documents. As I left, I will remember herstanding there saying goodbye, with her two young children, 211

Chapter 13one each side of her. She was a pretty girl with a rather squareface and a turned up nose. She looked vague and a little sad.Recommended to a girl called Dawn. She was twenty three years of age and required a mortgage on the property shewas renting. The landlord was selling a lot of his propertyportfolio to raise money for a new venture he was gettinginvolved in. Because he needed to raise money quickly theprice he had offered her for the flat was a real bargain. Twoother tenants in the three story block were also buying, it wasan opportunity that you only get once in a lifetime. I drove over to Bromley from Croydon, up Hayes Lane andthen off left and down to a road that backed on to a park whereshe lived. Good looking building: housing nine flats: threestory. The month was July and the weather was suitable warmwith hazy sunshine. I had been on two appointments prior tothis one and was feeling a little tired as I rang her bell. Sheanswered and asked me to come in. The first thing I noticedabout her was her movement: athletic with good posture, fivefoot five and very attractive. The flat was like her, in goodcondition and spotless. She offered me a coffee and we startedto discuss her mortgage; I quickly understood why she neededmy expertise. I was very attracted to her presence, she cameover as a very strong and healthy person in every way.Combine this with a terrific hair style, black hair cut short andswept back after a lot of back combe and a truly beautifulstrong face, I was just swept away. I then said to her, “My fee is five hundred pounds, which is payable upfront.” “No way, I’m not paying any fee, you get enough from thebuilding society.” Needless to say, but I will say, I was takenaback. I said, 212

Chapter 13 “ You have already told me that you’re not taking any lifeassurance and the fee I get from the lender is not enough, it’snot enough to cover my expenses on this business or my time.” “Well if I take out some life cover in the future, I’ll do it withyou.” She said. I replied, “If you take out life cover in the future, the commission Ireceive on it will be my fee for the business then not now.” Dawn looked at me in a very confident way, she was veryattractive and almost manly, and in total control of thesituation. But she wasn’t; I had my set fees for the various typesof business that I did and that was that. If the clients didn’twant to pay the fees that was entirely up to them but theywouldn’t get my services and that was entirely up to me.The problem was, this situation had heightened my sexualappetite for Dawn beyond my normal control and I then saidsomething that I have never said before or after. “Dawn, instead of my fee, let’s go to bed and make love.” “Fuck off.” I put all the papers back into my briefcase, and fucked off.A few days later, I was in my office and Dawn rang, “I’ve managed to get your fee for you, can you come overasap, I’ve got to get this mortgage going, we’ve wasted enoughtime already.” She sounded annoyed with me, like she wascontrolling events and It pissed me off. So, I said, “I don’t want a fee, you know what I want.” “What do you want?” “I want to fuck you.”There was a long silence and then she hanged up. Twentyminutes later she rang back. “Roy, look don’t be silly, do the mortgage for me and I’llpay you.” 213

Chapter 13 “No, I’ve told you I want to make love to you. Dawn I knowyou don’t want to know, but in that case, I’m sorry, I just I don’twant to see you anymore.” I put the phone down. Now I certainly thought that was it.I was getting a little bit worried about having put myself in asituation which if Dawn wanted to be bloody minded; couldmake things pretty bad for me. But of course, she didn’t want to make things bad for me.She wanted that life defining thing: a mortgage. She rang back. “So if I let you make love to me, you won’t charge me a fee.!” “Dawn, I want you to say, If I let you fuck me, you won’tcharge me a fee.” Silence then, “If I let you fuck me. You won’t charge a fee.” “That’s correct.” “Ok but of course that will happen after you have got methe mortgage.” “No way, I fuck you before I submit the paperwork to thelender.” Silence again and then, “ok.” At this stage of the conversation, my cock was so hard itwas physically painful but I also felt very guilty. Of course guiltand sex is a very aphrodisiac pill to take. “When can you come over?” “The mortgage must be urgent now. When I come over , thefirst thing we do is go to bed and have sex, that’ll take about anhour and then we will complete the paperwork, another hour.We need two and half, three hours.” “I’ve got Thursday after noon off, can you make it then?” “What time?” “About three?” “See you then” 214

Chapter 13 Thursday afternoon, I’m driving to my appointment withDawn, another lovely day, warm and sunny. I’m unhappy withthe position I’ve put myself in which is not only unprofessionalbut dangerous. All sorts of thoughts are going through mymind, what if she has some one there when I arrive, police or acompliance officer or whatever. I put the air conditioning on,that’s better, here we are, fuck this. I get out of the car, take briefcase from the boot, lock car,bollocks, here goes and I ring the bell. No answer, so I ringagain, then I hear her, she unlocks the door and opens it. “HiRoy, sorry I was on the phone,” she says and gives me a lovelysmile. Her teeth are so white and healthy like the rest of her,she looks even more beautiful today. We go into the lounge, itsten past three and she says, “I was just going to have a glass ofwine, do you want one ?” I reply, “Yes that would be nice,” Weboth sat down with our large glasses of wine and startedchatting. I asked her if she played a sport as she looked so fit, Ithought I saw her blush a little. She told me she played for alocal women’s football team and they even did a bit of weighttraining a couple of times a week at the football club. I told herthat I had been a keen football player and still did the weighttraining and I thought now we know why she looks so fit andI also thought of how that might affect her performance in bed.I said, “When I make love to a woman, I always start by spendinga lot of time licking and sucking her pussy, are you ok withthat?” Now she was definitely blushing and embarrassed. “I don’t know, I’ve never had anyone do that to me.” GoodI wanted to unsettle her just a little. “I want you to think about me licking your pussy, mytongue going up and down your pussy lips, c’mon Dawn thinkabout it.” There was silence for a while. I then said 215

Chapter 13 “Do you think that you would get pleasure from it.” “ I think I’m getting pleasure from it now” and we bothlaughed. We were in her bedroom, a nice room with many photos ofher and her family, a big window overlooked the garden andlet the beautiful sunny day in with a definite but soft light. Theonly sound was of the twittering high singing of the little birdsoutside in the garden. “Dawn I want you to undress slowly in front of me.” “Oh, for God’s sake, what, you want to see what yourgetting do you?” “Yes.” She stood there facing me and then started toundress until she was naked. I undressed, the last garment Itook off were my pants to show my good looking enormouspenis. She looked down at it and said those immortal words “Fucking hell.” I told her to lay on the bed and then followed. She looked alittle nervous and stiff, no problem we’d soon loosen her up. Istroked her hair, brought my hand down her cheek onto hershoulder and caressed her tits. Kissed her mouth, told her toopen her mouth to take my tongue and she obeyed. Then wentslowly down her body kissing and licking all the time and atthe same time savouring every morsel of this beautifulwomen’s skin. She moaned “Oh Roy Oh Roy” not knowing thefuck what I was going to do next. I spread her thighs a foot apart, licked and kissed the insideof them, spread her pussy lips and slowly but firmly lickedeach one, Then I ran my tongue right up between them andgently sucked her clitoris, she moaned, “Oh Roy, Oh Roy mypussy is so fucking wet, fuck me fuck me.” Not for a while Ithought: I’m going to give you’re pussy a lot more pleasurebefore we fuck. I now got down to business, I gently put my 216

Chapter 13fore fingers into her vagina, working the fingers in a little bit ata time slowly and softly to let her get used to the feel of theminside her. When she seemed comfortable with my fingersinside of her I said, “Dawn darling is that ok” she replied “ YesRoy its lovely.” I then used a curling motion to softly massage the top of hervagina with the pad of my finger. I massaged her G spot inslow, gentle circles, at the same time I sucked her clit, I lookedup at her like a slave who looks up to his master, she was halfup on her elbows looking down at me, with the tip of my fingerI tapped firmly and repeatedly on her G-spot, Dawn threw herhead back in delight and then I tried different caresses, such asfigure eights or a rapid succession of pulses. The G spot cantake a lot of pressure, so I pressed harder and caressed she fellon to her back and cried out in passion “fucking hell, fuckinghell” as her lovely firm breasts bounced up and down to therhythm of my firm fingers caressing her G spot. “Oh Roy, myhearts beating so fast, can you hear it.” she gasped and then“it’s incredible it feels so good.” She was now actually cryingwith pleasure. She had a terrific body, firm and athletic butvery feminine in the right places. Wonderful looking pussy andI should know, a bum that was as firm as a bum could be, itonly went up and perfect tits that now had big black nipples. Our bodies were covered with sweat and I came up to herand said “ You ok” she said “ I will be, for God’s sake give meyour cock I’ve got to suck it, quick,” and she roughly took itand stuffed it in her mouth and sucked, I gently fingered herclitoris, she took her tongue down along the side of my cockand popped all my ballocks into her mouth and then suckedeach one individually all the time gently massaging my penis. She lay on her back, her legs apart, I knelt between themlooking down at this beautiful naked girl totally primed for the 217

Chapter 13final act. I brought my penis down onto her pussy and caressedher pussy lips with it and then her clitoris. Her pussy’s sexualjuices overflowed; wet and willing. “Dawn are you ready to be fucked?” “Please God.” We laid side by side our sexual desires satisfied for a whileand at peace with the world. Well nearly, Dawn said “Do you think you’ll be able to get my mortgage?” “Well if I don’t, I’ll have to pay you five hundred pounds.” She responded by giving me a playful dig in the ribs withher elbow. As I always used to say to my clients, I’m in the business ofdoing mortgages, not, not doing them. Dawn got her mortgageand lived happily ever after.Went to see an existing client concerning a mortgage. He was a young man in his early twenties, he had originallybeen introduced to me by his accountant. I am not going to sayhis name or the area where he lived, for reasons that willbecome clear in due course. Him and his girlfriend wanted to buy their first house. Theywere getting married shortly after. He was a self-employedbuilder whose business was doing very well. Unfortunately,after business expenses and everything else, the net profit wasnot sufficient to obtain the mortgage required. The meeting is being held at the young man’s parents’home. We are all siting around the table, the young man, hisfiancé, his mother and me. Standing over us is his father; aChief Superintendent of the Metropolitan Police. I am trying tothink of the right phrase of how to say something: withoutcompromising myself. I say, “There is only one way to do this, 218

Chapter 13but it would not be strictly kosher.” His father, the Chiefsuperintendent of the Metropolitan Police says, “You mean,we’ll say his employed; no problem.” Abbey Life held branch meetings at the beginning of eachmonth: this was to highlight who had achieved the status ofman of the month, top producer. The top ten would be readout, from ten to one, in that order. There were over onehundred associates at these meetings: we would all gather in aprivate function room and have coffee and chat then go and sitdown on the chairs that had been provided facing the stage.Awards would be given to the top three achievers, new waysof improving business, info on the next convention etc. It was apleasant worthwhile morning. When the Abbey Life branchwas in Croydon, we used to have our branch meetings at theFairfield Halls which was a comfortable venue for this type ofmeeting. When my Abbey Life branch changed to Crawley, Gatwick,the branch meeting venues changed considerably too: insteadof having the same venue every month, we had a different oneevery month, in hotels scattered all over the Sussex area. Alloldie woldy hotels, very nice and classy and a joy to go to. Inthe summer it was fun to go to a different one every month andsort of explore the area, we would have coffee and look roundthe hotel before going into the meeting. Sometimes I was lateand would speed down country lanes at break neck speedsendangering all wild life including myself; like most people Ihated being late. I remember the sun flashing through theleaves of the trees and me concentrating on taking the next leftor right turn. 219

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14 Ann’s storey *Every Saturday afternoon, me and Ann would be at the Reigate or Epsom tennis club: we would play tennis (on the grass weather permitting) with the other membersuntil about 6pm. In the winter, it would be at the David Lloydsclub: on their indoor courts. Most times we would go home toshower but sometimes when we were at David Lloyds, wewould go into the steam room and then shower because thefacilities there were excellent. When DL first opened, its hardto describe how fantastic it was: after years of trying to playtennis through the English winter, we were suddenlyconfronted with the most perfect tennis courts you could wishfor. No rain, no wind and no sun to get in your eyes. It was soperfect that you could actually coach yourself as you wereplaying. When outside the rain or snow would be comingdown. We would be showered, dressed and ready to go by7.30pm We would have our first vodka and tonic in our sitting roomlistening to the Honeys or Gabriella on one of hundreds of CDs,tapes and vinyl LPs that we had. Our beautiful detached househad every convenience you could think of. Then we would beoff to the Kingswood Arms for a few more drinks before wearrived at our restaurant. On the way back home we alwayspopped in to ´Scamps nightclub` for an hour or two. Filled withyoung people but run by older people: a winning combination,we boogied the night away. We would arrive home about 3am. 221

Chapter 14If we were in the mood, which most of the time we were, wewould have another drink and then make love somewhere inthe house. No children you see. We never had children becausewe didn’t want them. Ann was on different birth pills(according to age) for most of our marriage. Believe me, if wehad wanted children, we could have ten. When we made love,we were extremely compatible and for me, nobody I met, wasas good as Ann. Sunday, we would lay in until about 11.30am, have brunchand then in the afternoon we would both do our weight trainfor a couple of hours. That plus the tennis kept both of us veryfit. In the evening, we would relax in front of the telly and Annwould cook a superb meal. Fresh roast beef, roast potatoes and3-4 wonderful fresh vegetables. She would put some of thewater, the vegetables were cooked in, back into the gravy shemade for extra goodness. We went to some of the bestrestaurants in the world but they never compared to Ann’scooking. As you were eating, you could feel the protein in herfood doing you good. I was a lucky man. Monday morning, upat 7.30 am and the working week starts again. Sometimes I used to think that Ann was an android: becauseshe was so perfect. Everything she did was for the purpose ofstrengthening our relationship and marriage. In the whole ofour 41 years together, we only had 5 bad arguments. All myfault. Times when I was not being faithful. Wheneversomething was not going well, she would correct it and makeit go well and move forward. Once when we disagreed aboutsomething she asked me to go and sit somewhere on my ownand try and be her, so I could see it from her point of view. Shesaid I really had to concentrate on being her. So, I did. Afterabout thirty mins, it was like meditation, I could actually thinkI was her and approach the problem from her point of view and 222

Chapter 14then I could see that she was right and I was wrong. I couldn’tbelieve it. I had been so convinced that I was right but I wasn’t. Every now and again, over the years, Ann would tell meabout her childhood. She was born in Ardee, Co. Louth,Ireland. In those days, it was the equivalent of a third worldcountry; it was where she lived anyway. When she was 5 yrs.of age, her father and mother left her with her auntie and uncle,while they took her younger sister Kathy with them and wentto the UK to find work. The uncle was an alcoholic and everynight when he came home, he used to physically abuse Ann.This went on for some years until she finally became ill withTB, so she went into hospital to die: in those days, everyonewho had TB died. After nearly three years in hospital she wascured. She had survived. Ann told me that they had put her ona sort of plank of wood, flat down on her back for hours on end,which was a kind of treatment for the type of TB she had andshe would always remember that when she was slowly gettingbetter, how they would put her into a wheel chair and wheelher out to face a big window where she could feel the sunshine.The bad news was, that the drugs that they had given her, lefther with reduced vision in her left eye and reduced hearing inher left ear. During this time, her mother and father who were still inEngland had, had another baby daughter, Christine and thenthe mother died when trying to give birth again. What all thismeant to Ann, was she could not join her family but had to stayin Ireland. Now that she was better she was asked if she wanted to goback to her uncle and aunt or go into a home. Obviously, shechose a home. The home was a convent; there were about 15children there and Ann was the eldest, she sort of looked afterthem. The nuns were good people but strict. Ann was there 223

Chapter 14until she was 16yrs. of age. By this time her father had a newpartner, Ella and a home for her to go to. The amount ofdamage that must have been done to Ann, both mentally andphysically at this stage in her young life we can only guess, butit must have been severe. The first date I had with Ann was on the Thursday nightafter New Year’s Eve. I was very late: simply because I had todepend on the buses. I knocked at the door, Ann answered withElla beside her. Ann said, “I didn’t think you were coming” Isaid “What would you have done if I hadn’t.” She replied “Idon’t know.” Not an earth-shattering conversation but thereyou are. We went upstairs to her room; she put a kettle of wateron an electric ring, took her blouse off and then poured thewarm water into a bowl and with soap and a flannel proceededto wash under her arms. The house was pretty basic, at leastshe was with her dad and step mum. I spent the rest of my lifetrying to make it up to her. I slowly got to know her and soonrealised that what she had been through had not weakened herbut had made her stronger and a very down to earth personwho always went straight to the heart of the matter without anyhairy fairy side show. Angela Frances Quinn. Eventually she became my god. Shewas my whole life and when she died, my life ended. Nothingelse was real again. From then on it was like acting a part. Most of our life was like travelling in a time machine.Occasionally we would get out and be with shadows in thenight and then go back to the TM and continue the journey. Awonderful journey with the only person I could really trust.There’s a saying ´if you were in a war bunker and there was athousand Germans advancing at you and you could have oneperson by your side, who would it be? Arnold Swats his name.Mike Tyson, etc. No, for me it would have been Ann because 224

Chapter 14you knew she would never let you down, never. She would befighting there by your side and you would leave this earthtogether. I could trust her with my soul. We never criticised one another except for one thing. Annwould say “You panic to quickly” I would say “Ann, there’sonly one thing wrong with you.” She would say “what’s that”I would reply “Your family.” And when Ann died those twocriticisms proved to be the total downfall, of the rest of my life. 225

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15 Business, through accountants *Back to Abbey Life. I then became aware of a colleague in the office; Bruce Grindley. He was an adviser like myself but that’s where the similarity ended. He had been withAbbey for many years, starting out at their Head Office,Bournemouth, in customer services. He was now about 35 yrs.of age, doing a lot of business and earning a lot of money. Weoccasionally chatted and he started to give me invaluableadvice. Then one day he said that he was going to become amanager and as Paul Newman’s team had grown too big tohandle, would I mind if he asked Paul for me to come over tohis group. Of course, I said I would be delighted to join histeam. Paul was good but Bruce was in a much higher league. Bruce was a very nice looking man. 5ft 10ins, thick darkbrown hair, medium build and a very calm intelligentpersonality. He liked to come over as slightly boring but thiswas his sales pitch. Would you part with 100,000 pounds to asalesman or a boring, technical expert? Just finishing a meeting with two directors of a localproperty company at their office. Father and son business.Bruce has just gone to the toilette. The son who is about 35 yrs.of age says “You know Roy, Bruce is brilliant technically, buthe’s not a very good salesman is he?” as he writes out a chequeto Abbey for 500,000 pounds. Actually, Bruce wasn’t very good technically, he was abrilliant salesman and that’s just who I wanted for my new 227

Chapter 15manager. For the next few years we did some good businesstogether. Another way I tried to do business, was to regularly contactaccountants in the area: with a view to arranging anappointment to discuss ways, where I could be of benefit tothem and their clients. Sometimes I rang them and sometimesmy secretary rang them. I went to see an accountant, John Durant at his offices inChislehurst. John was about thirty years of age, big mop ofblack hair, good looking, five foot nine inches tall and nicelydressed. Married, he was a young man at the top of hisprofession, relaxed and open minded. We got on well. His offices were in a very big Edwardian mansion, whichhe owned. He had several rooms for his own business andrented out the rest to other businesses . He was a clever maturebusiness man at a very young age for his type of profession. Hecalled in his secretary and said “Roy, I want you to meetMaggie, if I’m not around, she will look after you.” She then leftthe office and John and myself continued our conversation. Iexplained the advantages of dealing with someone like me, afinancial adviser. All business that I completed with his clients, he wouldreceive 50 percent of the commission. He would receive half ofthis, after six months and the balance at the end of one year. Ifthey were annual premiums, then of course he would receivethe commission up front. At the present time, a lot of his clients were taking policiesout with whoever rang their doorbell. Meaning, he neverreceived any commission and some of the policies were notcompatible with their tax situation. I would keep him right up to date, with monthly meetings,as to what the client’s situation was, and the type of policies I 228

Chapter 15was recommending. Now he would have total control inknowing his clients were taking out policies, that he wouldhave recommended. Because I would methodically work through his clients;would mean that someone else would not be arranging thebusiness, where the left hand did not know what the right handwas doing. John agreed with all that was said and was happyto start recommending his clients to see me. I suggested that hegave me a list of thirty clients at a time, for me to work through.Names, addresses and telephone numbers. I would then sendfive letters a week to them. The letters would be on his headedpaper, as though they had been sent by him, saying that Iwould be ringing them in the next few days and of courserecommending them to take my advice. I would then ring thema couple of days after. He agreed to this and called Maggie inagain, so we could discuss it with her as she would beorganising most of it from their end. We shook hands on thedeal and I departed. I walked out of the building and into the warm sunshine.The morning had, had a slight chill in the air, so the afternoonwas a pleasant surprise. Beyond the car park was a well-keptgarden, filed with rose bushes and rhododendrons, which wasthe highlight of the grounds. The building and gardens werebeautiful and very classy. I felt like I was moving up to anotherlevel and time would confirm this to be true. I would send the letters one week and follow up with aphone call the next week. Towards the end of the phone call, Iwould basically say “Well if you don’t take the advice of youraccountant, whose advice can you take?” The appointment rateand the closing rate was very high. Also in most cases, verygood quality. Very soon John introduced me to the otheraccountant in the practice. I already had an accountant who I 229

Chapter 15was doing this type of business with, so now there were threeaccountants introducing me to their clients. Those clients,because I had been introduced by their accountant, had noqualms, in recommending me to their friends and businesscolleagues. And remember, at the end of every meeting, Iwould always ask for recommendations. In the business wewould refer to them as referred leads. They were the life bloodof business: business growth. I would arrange a meeting to go over to see John Durant athis offices about once a month. Then one day when I was there,he said “Roy I’ve left my wife and now I’m living with Maggiemy secretary. I’m trying to get the divorce through as soon as Ican so I can marry Maggie.” Fair enough, I thought, all’s fair inlove and war. Maggie was a very lovely girl, inside as well asoutside. She had a good personality and it was easy to see howJohn had fallen in love with her. Me and Ann went out withthem on several occasions and always had a good time. We haddinner parties at one another houses and got to know eachother very well. I went to John Durant’s offices, but not to see John this time,to see his partner, Gary Sergeant. I hadn’t had cause to visittheir offices for a while, so afterwards, I was going to pop myhead in and say hello to John. We were going over some ofGary’s clients, when he told me that John had, had a serious caraccident. He had been rushed to hospital, where he had beenoperated on and had his spleen removed. (Your spleen is a small organ located on the left side of yourabdomen under the rib cage. This organ is part of your immunesystem and helps to fight off infections while also filteringdamaged and old cells out of your bloodstream. If your spleenneeds to be removed, you’ll undergo a surgical procedurecalled a splenectomy. Undergoing a spleen removal leaves you 230

Chapter 15with a compromised, or weakened, immune system. Sinceinfections can be more dangerous without a spleen, you mayneed yearly vaccines and prophylactic antibiotics. Prophylacticantibiotics are used to prevent a bacterial infection fromoccurring. They aren’t used to treat an existing infection.) I was obviously shocked to hear this and asked Garry if Ishould visit him in hospital. Gary told me that John had nowleft hospital and was being looked after By Maggie, who wasnow his wife. I said, I would ring Maggie, later that day. When I was back at my office, I rang Maggie. She told methat they were driving home from work when a big lorry hadovertaken them and pulled back into the nearside lane before itshould have. The back of the lorry hit their car, right whereJohn was, driving. The rest was horrific; she thought they wereboth going to die. She said that she was frightened to go to sleepnow, because she had nightmares of it. Maggie asked me not to visit John at the present time,because he still wasn’t well enough. She said, that when he wasfeeling better, he needed to go into his office and sort thingsout. When that time came, she would ring me and arrange anappointment with John. We said our goodbyes and I put the phone down. I wasshattered and cried my eyes out and of course Ann was veryupset too. The situation that we had, had with John and Maggiewas terrific. We had some really good times, we were on thesame wavelength, especially when it came to a sense ofhumour. And we did very good business together, the perfectfriendship. Now all fucked up, by a twist of fate. Eventually, John came back to work. Initially, he seemed ok,but after a short while he decided that he didn’t want to carryon doing accountancy. Maggie was now pregnant with theirfirst child and John wanted to look after himself more so he 231

Chapter 15could live and see his children grow up. So, he sold hisaccountancy practise to Gary and another accountant, MikeKapnisi. He still owned the lovely Edwardian building: as wellas the accountancy practice, there were another twelvecompanies, who were renting the building. While of course, hehad a business mortgage on the property to pay. The rentalincome he received far outweighed the payments of themortgage on the property. Over the years, the mortgage wouldbe slowly paid off, while the capital appreciation of theproperty would continue to rise. So, a pretty big lump sum from selling practise. Risingrental income. Capital appreciation. Spending much more timewith the person he loved and being there with his children. Notbad at the age of thirty five. John introduced me to MikeKapnisi, who was a very nice guy and who, continued to do thesame business with me. Mike also became my accountant. Thebad news was that me and Ann, didn’t see that much of Johnand Maggie after all this; I suppose John never quite felt thesame again and when the toddlers come along, life gets noisierin one way, but quieter in another. Mike Kapnisi was subtlydifferent from other accountants, in so much as he workedmore on the shop floor. He introduced me to some interestingclients. None more than a man called Jack Hamilton.Jack was fifty, when I first met him. He was what I would call a true business man. He could put his hand to many differentthings and make a business out of them. I first went to see himin his lovely detached house in Reigate, Surrey. This was not agood time for Jack. His first wife had died some years ago. Hehad three grown up boys from that marriage and saw them allon a regular basis. He was now married to a much younger 232

Chapter 15woman, Deana and had started a second family. She was in herlate twenties and they had two young children; from what hehad told me, they wanted more! His present business was indecline; he was looking around for another type of business,but in the meantime, needed to raise some capital in his houseto survive. This was to become the pattern of our businessrelationship. If his business was doing badly, he needed to raisecapital to survive and if his business was doing well, he neededto raise capital to expand. And along the way life cover and acompany pension scheme was required for tax efficiency.Anyway, I completed all the paperwork and raised the moneyhe required. Jack was a Scotsman from Glasgow and a very shrewdperson. When he was down, he would dress immaculately,when he was on top, a little more casual. I soon had to go backto see Jack again. His present business, which was basicallymail order, had come to an end. The main part of that businesswas the sale of slimming pills promoted by the one and only,Australian conman Peter Foster. The good-looking charmerwhose gift of the gab and personal wealth once made him amagnet for some of the world's top models. In the UK where hemade serious money as he promoted Bai Lin with the aid of histhen girlfriend, the topless model Samantha Fox and the jockeyLester Piggott. He even sponsored Chelsea FC which put theBai Lin logo on players' shirts All this of course had nothing to do with Jack, his businesswas solely mail order; but it was instrumental in the closing ofhis business. Jack now had to sell his house, to survive, andlook for new pastures to plunder, excuse the expression. Iparticularly remember going to see him in his new house. Wellanything but knew, an oldy woldy quaint sort of place wherethe main window of the lounge, looked out on a roundabout 233

Chapter 15with a church like stone memorial in the middle. Nothing likethe grandeur of his previous establishment. His office was a wooden shed, at the bottom of a smallgarden. The main thing about it was a telephone, he hadsomehow managed to have an extension, put down the garden.We were talking in his shed, come office when one of his youngchildren came in, a lovely little blond haired boy of about three,saying “there you are daddy.” Jack immediately phoned Deanewho was in the house and said “Deana, can you come and getGeorge, he’s come into my office and you know I have to putso many hours into my business.” That was Jack, come rain orshine, his motto was “the only time you fail, is when you giveup.” Needless to say, he never failed. But this was certainly avery low point in his business life. I never saw Jack for a while, and then one afternoon when Iwas talking to Mike Kapnisi at his offices, Mike mentioned thatI should contact Jack, because his new business was starting totake off. I was in Jacks house. The wife and kids were out. Heexplained to me that he had started a new business: sellingholiday homes in Spain and it was starting to do very well, theyhad an abundance of orders. The only problem now, was cashflow. They had taken lots of deposits but would receive nothingelse from the clients until the completion. Of course thebuilders needed to be paid upon each stage of the build.Foundations, walls, roof etc. They had raised a certain amountof money at the start to fund the operation, but because theproject had taken off so well, they were having trouble keepingup with the stage payments. They needed about seventythousand pounds. Jack asked me if I could loan the companythe money for a percentage of the shares. Now I don’t know ifthis is true or not, but of course Mike Kapnisi was my 234

Chapter 15accountant and knew my finances. He knew that I had just leftAbbey life with a considerable practise buyout. He Knew that Ihad a lot more than seventy thousand put by, and he may havementioned this to Jack. I personally didn’t mind him tellingJack at all. I had absolutely no problem with that. Anyway, Ideclined to proceed with the sale of any shares and said I hadalready committed my capital elsewhere. One of the biggestmistakes of my life. The problem for me, was at this particular time, with Abbeylife closing down for new business and me starting up on myown, I was going to need all the capital that I had. There wassomething else going on in my life at this time, that made itdifficult for me to make any firm decisions with regard toinvesting capital. I will continue with this later on in the book. -----------------------------------------------(Rachel BridgeDecember 19 2004, 12:00am,The Sunday TimesHow I made it: Jack Hamilton, founder of Parador PropertiesSimon Lambert and managing director Jack Hamilton foundedParador Properties in 1998Holiday homes boom turned my life roundThe first time he went into business he lost tens of thousands ofpounds and had to sell his house. His next venture reaped hima fortune. But his third lost him £150,000. 235

Chapter 15Happily his fourth — and latest — venture has done much torepair the damage, giving him a personal fortune of £50m.He said: “My wife is always saying I must make sure I hang onto it this time.”Brought up in a two-room Glasgow tenement, Hamilton leftschool at 16 to become an apprentice in a firm of charteredaccountants. But after three years he quit to follow in his elderbrother Jimmie’s footsteps and become a management traineeat Marks & Spencer. Etc.) ---------------------------------------------------- Three months later, Jack rang me and invited me over to hisoffices in Redhill. Big, spacious offices; thirty to forty peoplethere, all working, all on the phone making money. Thedifference between the last time I had seen him and now wasphenomenal. Jack wanted me to come and work at the offices, two tothree times a week, and arrange mortgages, but mainlyremortgages, for the customers who wanted to purchase hisholiday homes. Jack already knew how good a mortgagebroker I was, because of all the times I had got him out of theshit when he needed it. And believe me, some of theremortgages I completed for him, when he needed to raisemoney, were a work of art, possibly in the same category asLeonardo da Vinci. So we moved in, three times a week, nine to five. Acustomer would ring in to buy a holiday home, the propertysalesman would receive the call, provide the client with therelevant property they were looking for then tell them, that if 236

Chapter 15they needed help with raising the capital, the ParadorProperties, mortgage and loan advisor would contact them orat the end of the phone call, transfer them over to me.Sometimes, if the client had a great deal of capital in a propertyor properties, I would advise them to consider buying morethan one holiday home, much to Jacks pleasure. Then theycould have one for themselves and rent one out. The incomefrom renting out would be enough to pay the payment on theloan. And of course, as time went on, the rental income wouldrise and the capital appreciation would also increase. Overall,it could be a good investment and after all, as they say, there’sno better investment than bricks and mortar. But I alwayspointed out to them that property was a long term investmentand if events in your life made it short term, then you couldlose out. This was also made clear in the compliance paperworkthat was sent to them. Jacks business was going from strength to strength, but heneeded it too because his home life was going from child toanother child. I think he had four children by his present wife,or it could have been five. I must admit, I had lost count. Aftera year or so, I had, had enough of working in Jacks offices andpacked it in. I was an independent mortgage broker: a self-employed man, not an employee, thank God, my own man, asthey say. The time spent there had been very worthwhile,money wise and experience wise. I remember one evening, I rang Jack up about something,can’t remember what it was now, and Deana answered thephone. She was really pissed off. Jack was over in Spain again,doing the business. Possibly, in more ways than one. She wasgoing on about how Jack was always away and she was left onher own; she was lonely. I talked and commiserated with her,when she suddenly said, “Roy, can’t you take me out one 237

Chapter 15evening, that would be nice.” I replied, “You mean me andAnn.” “No,” she said, “you.” It’s funny how your life can flashbefore you in these situations. I knew that if I took Deana outfor the evening, drinks, then dinner and then more drinks.Deanna had a kind of animal attraction to me and I pretty muchknew that if we were both pissed and she was feeling down,there was a good chance we would end up in bed together.Now the consequences of that, is too horrific for me to evenimagine. So, I’m not going to. Another time me and Ann was invited by Jack, to theParador Properties Christmas party. An honour indeed. All theDirectors and employees were there, plus a few other peoplewho dealt with the company and Mike Kapnisi, our mutualaccountant was there with his wife Sandie. It was held in a largebanqueting hall of a hotel. Me and Ann drove to the functionby car. At the time I had a black 735se BMW. A big car with myown personalised number plates. ROI 83. As I’ve said before Icouldn’t afford the Y. Some say that the ROI stands for TheRepublic of Ireland. Others say, in France and India, ROI standsfor royalty. In the south east of England it stands for Roy. Whenwe arrived at the venue, the car park was choc a block and therain was pissing down. Then we suddenly came upon anempty car parking space right next to the entrance. Who saysthere isn’t a God. We were in, without even having to open anumbrella. We were at the bar, having drinks and chatting witha group of people. Someone, a lady, said to me. “Did you have any trouble parking.” “No we were very fortunate and found a space right next tothe entrance.” “Oh, so you’re the one who took the space, that Jackreserved for his Rolls Royce.” Not a good start. 238

Chapter 15 The evening gave everyone a chance to relax and get toknow each other. The food was adequate and the music kepteveryone dancing. For a company Christmas do, it was prettysuccessful. And for a night out, when it was pissing down,nonstop, it was very successful. 239

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16 The breakthrough *One day a new girl came to work in the office, Helen. She was 21, very attractive and had a terrific personality. Bubbly, intelligent and streetwise. After amonth or so, she started going out with Wayne Fontana, onlyjoking, I can’t remember his surname. Wayne was a very goodlooking boy also 21 and very confident. They became a coupleand looked good together. I was in the office one morning, at my desk working.Nearby Wayne was chatting to a guy about Helen. He then saidto me “What do you think of her.” “She’s a really nice girl.” “Too young for an old man like you eh”. “She’s just the right age for a man like me” I was 35yrs. of age at the time and she was 21, just the rightage. “You would have no chance” he said. I must admit he hadslightly annoyed me. I replied, “I would have every chance and after you she wouldprobably think I was the bee´s knees.” Now, he was slightly annoyed. “I´ll bet you 20 pound you can’t make a date with her.” I was now beginning to enjoy the conversation. He had justgiven me cart blanch to date his girlfriend. So, the bet was 241

Chapter 16made. Two weeks to make the date. No problem, dated in 3days, bedded in 7. 1 week to spare. It was a very, very nice affair. She shared an apartment withher older brother who was a terrific guy. 6ft 1 ins. Well-builtand very good looking. At the time, I had a 735 auto. BlackBMW with personalised number plates. Helen told me that hehad said to her “At last you’ve brought some one home whohas class.” Takes one to know one. One day we were laying onher bed when he opened the door and threw two pills on thebed. “Give´m a try, their good.” So we did. Ten hours later Iagreed, they were very good. I made love to Helen about tentimes during that period and every time I made love, she wasa different woman. I kid you not. Amazing. The other goodthing about this relationship was that Helen’s apartment wasonly about five minutes’ walk from the Abbey life offices. Helen was good company, intelligent and quick witted. Itwas always fun and exciting to be with her and we had somegood times together. During our relationship, she was asked togo down to Abbey Life’s Head office in Bournemouth: on anadvancement course. While she was there she met someone,who owed her one, so he gave her three HO leads. (These wereadverts that are put in the newspaper advertising Abbeysproducts with a return slip to send back if you want to knowmore.) She then passed these leads on to me and if I earntmoney from them; would pass some on to her. Occasionally wewere given HO leads through our branch, but I was to find outthat these leads directly from HO were a much better quality.Two were very good. One was life changing. Details of a personal manager, Paul Thompson, at Britishtelecom. He was in charge of looking for the right pensionscheme for a new company being set up. The company’s namewas to be BT&D technologies. The D stood for Dupont. So, two 242

Chapter 16of the biggest companies in the UK and USA were joiningforces to increase their technology skills and we had a slimchance of providing the pension for them. There would beprofessors and highly qualified employees. All earning largesalaries, so making large contributions and earning us lots oflovely commission. We had a lot of work to do yet, and I say,only a very slim chance of succeeding, because the best brokerswere all after this one. But we had one thing on our side thatcould possibly swing it. Bruce Grindley. Bruce rang Paul Thompson, with me by his side, crossingeverything. “Hi Bruce, thanks for ringing. Yes, I made theenquiry. Since then, I have had many replies. I have talked tonine brokers. Quite frankly I need another broker like a hole inthe head, so, I don’t think there is any point in you coming overto see me.” Bruce says, “That’s all the more reason you need to see me Paul.” “How do you mean?” “Well when you see me, you won’t need the other ninebrokers” “Hah, hah, ok, for your cheek, lets arrange anappointment.” We were in and when Bruce is face to face, there is not manythat can compete. Our first appointment with Paul was atmodest offices in the West end of London, Oxford Street W1. Itwent well and after two more meetings we had the business. Iwill always remember the last meeting. We had been told thatwe had the business and to start it of by going down to Ipswichto bring in the first five employees. As me and Bruce wasleaving the office, Paul said, in a sort of throwaway line, “Oh,by the way we do have a thousand pound overdraft on thataccount,” Our hearts dropped, he went on “but as we have a 243

Chapter 16three million pound overdraft facility, I don’t think you willhave any problems.” Hearts went back to rightful place. The bad news, if there was any, was that the companybuilding would be built in Ipswich: although, this wascompensated by some very good hotels that we stayed in there.The Hintlesham Hall was the best. Me and Ann had someincredible times there. They were still building up to their five-star status and knew that we were connected to one of the mostprestigious companies in the country, BT&D technologies.Nothing was too much trouble for them. We used to stay in theBraganza suit which took up one whole wing of a very largebuilding. Lovely bubbly never had a better meaning. You cancatch the hotel on their website. That will tell you all. We decided that me and Bruce would own the BT&D casejointly. Although, as a manager, he would normally, only havereceived an override. We agreed that the work he had to do onsuch a prestigious and involved case warranted a bigger cut ofthe commission. Helen had to be rewarded. Bruce thought a couple ofhundred pounds would do the job. I told him “No way.”Without her, it wouldn’t have happened; I gave her 2,000pounds and she said she was happy with that. She had to behappy, because Helen was a really nice person and she hadbeen very good and very kind to me. She will always have aplace in my heart. The first week in February. Bitterly cold and a sprinkle ofsnowflakes in the air. Paul Thompson the personal manager ofBT&D Technologies had contacted me the previous week: hewanted me to go down to their offices in Ipswich to bring twonew members into the pension scheme. I was a bit wary,because the M11 could be a bastard of a motorway at the bestof times, if we had snow then it could be deadly. On the day I 244