A number of years ago now Richard Bradley was ranked towards the very top of ‘richlisters’ in New Zealand and Australia courtesy of his hamper company. Christmas hamper companies allow customers to finance a ‘special Christmas experience’ by monthly payment. Close to the ‘big day’ a hamper arrives packed full of goodies. Still popular in Australia, Canada and New Zealand Richard built a business empire with all the chattels of wealth. I am talking serious money here. One of his houses was recently on the market for £35 million!
As mentioned in the previous post my lambretta was a bit of a basket case but one day when out on a ride I noticed a man wearing smart parkha riding a Vespa scooter. He waved to me. Mods are cool OK? A few days later I went into a local coffee bar and ordered a coke and looked around nervously just in case any ‘rockers’ were about. In truth there were precious few in the whole area but at 17 years of age neurosis on many fronts is part of the plot. Instead I saw the ‘Vespa man’ sitting in the corner. I approached him and we got chatting. Richard had wavy red hair and spoke with a stammer. He was seemingly a very gentle man but very interesting. He had thought a lot about life for one so young and he and I had many conversations re the meaning of life and such like. He had left school at 16 and he had a series of odd jobs. Crucially he was planning to ‘make a lot of money’. He had a simple methodology in order to establish the best business to be involved in.
He would go into our local town and ride his scooter behind the rows of shops. He would notice who had the best cars and by deduction he established who was making the most money. In West Kirby in those days was a hairdresser called Peter Collinge who had built a successful business. He drove something exotic. Exotic enough to persuade Richard the hairdressing business was the place to be.
Now we are talking the swinging sixties here and men and women were going in for new look hair dos. I would see Richard from time to time and I was astonished to see him build a chain of hairdressing shops. The name of his chain was ‘Barnets’. The shops were all sited in conspicuous places on high streets normally in smallish premises. In Birkenhead and Liverpool shops sprang up. A large sign was over the shop but a large portion of the window was covered with hardboard painted in dark blue and marroon paint. They were painted in dark colours inside too and the hairdressers wore cool clothes. Loud music played. The quality of the haircuts themselves was variable at best but people came back for more as the whole experience was cool. Richard’s working week, he told me, centred around making sure all the books were ‘as he wanted them’. It was a cash business and he was making loads of it. Being a cash business meant his staff had temptations and he would dress in disguise so as to spy on them. I remember well him peering in through the window of his Birkenhead salon and seeing a hairdresser ‘trouser’ some change. He was in the shop in a flash and took action. I think in time he sold the business but I cant remember I do know however he started to drive ever more impressive cars.
I was around 20 when I got a call from Richard inviting me to be his best man. He had, how to put this, got a 15 year old girl in the family way and marriage was the way forward. We had to wait for her sixteenth birthday. She was very very pretty and probably the reason I was asked to help in proceedings was because Richard was confident I would perform well in ‘difficult’ circumstances. The thing was this girls Dad was at the pinnacle of local society, The Senior partner of a law firm and obviously very wealthy. The guest list was made up of the local great and the good and I got on my hind legs and delivered a speech that I hope was appropriate in the ever so delicate circumstances.
I totally lost touch with Richard but from time to time I would think of him. He had worked for a hamper company in Liverpool owned and run by a man I payed rugby with who was in fact an Everton Football Club director. (Everton are my one and only ever favourite soccer team). Richard Hughes, the owner, once told me he had had a falling out with Richard and he had left the company and moved to New Zealand.
It must have been 30 years later I got the call. ‘Dennis? Its Richard here. Richard Bradly. I am in London and I wonder if you would like to meet up for tea?’. The meeting place was The Ritz. A very self confident Richard entertained me to tea an cakes along with his wife and some of his children. It was all very weird as we skated around matters. Richard complained about the cakes demonstrating his authority. His wife was lovely and we parted promising future meetings.
Of course the internet provides many answers and soon I was learning of how Richard had moved to the Southern Hemisphere and had replicated and bettered the hamper company he had served on Merseyside. He had made an absolute fortune and he cared for his wife and children and set them all in up in wonderful homes. Of all the people I had grown up with this man had kicked the ball well and truly out of the park financially. I felt really happy for him as I understood Richard had many hidden depths and some of them probably haunted him.
Two years ago I found an email in a defunct address. It was Richard asking for help. Something had gone horribly wrong and he had broken up with his wife and life was on the edge. I had not seen the email and it grieves me I was not able to answer the call for help.
Last year another call. Back on his feet Richard was back in the UK on a trip hoping to meet up. A new partner and an invite to me to stay in his penthouse apartment overlooking The Sidney Opera House. Unfortunately I was away in France. ‘Next time’ said Richard. We will see!
Tales of a Life Well Lived 