I suppose most men are interested in the military. I am. I once interviewed the ex head man of the SAS for a job. I did and if you don’t believe me I have loads of evidence to prove it including Christmas cards from him and the like. I won’t mention his name but he had been to school with a friend of mine. After years of service, at a relatively young age for we mortals his military career was over. He was interested in the City and he came to have a chat. I think we got on well. Someone told me in advance ‘this man will not want opinion he will want data” So data he got loads of it.
I wanted to give him job but my superiors at Invesco, like all the rest, were so intimidated by him they said no and like many ex SAS people he ended up managing the security of some large corporate. Whilst I am sure he is wonderful at it and I hope he is happy I would have loved to have ‘let him loose’ so to speak, in a corporate environment. Just tell me what client would not love to meet him. That man at the top of an organisation that relies on consensus when planning missions would not make an excellent leader of anything. That if Life and death itself is the consequence of your daily decisions tell me that pressure based upon workaday challenges would be a problem. I could go on. It is too late now.
Chris Carpmael was the first marine I met. The ex Head boy of Marlborough I seem to remember, he was an impressive figure. Tall square of jaw and shoulders he never wore an overcoat and ignored such things as cold weather. He would encourage all in my team to ‘invest in the health bank’ via lunch time gym sessions. His theory was plausible, 15 minutes ‘beasting’ equals a pint of beer. Invest in the bank reap the benefits. He was respectful, funny, up for literally anything and the women loved him. Oh how they loved him. He would in a cheeky tone refer to ‘Big ED”. All knew what he meant but somehow he never cause offence.
What he did not know about Investment he made up for by being wonderful company. Single handedly he changed the moral of the division I worked in. Woe betide anyone caught moaning. ‘We may not be the best yet’ he would say ‘but soon we will be but not if people like you moan and undermine’. Soon all business surveys atested to Chris’s contribution as BZW started to top the industry performance charts.
There were times however when business and ‘other things’ overlapped. I was with him in Edinburgh walking along the Royal Mile. Both of us in suits both carrying brief cases. The battered face of a drunk confronted us. ‘You Basta’ the man said through blackened teeth focusing on me. ‘Hoo dae ye thin ye ar?’ ‘You basta’. he closed in. I hoped Chris would help me in someway and I was alarmed when Chris gave an order. “Run Boss Run” Off we went down the Royal Mile chased by someone with a can of Tennants Full Strength in his mitts. ‘Ye BAstas’ he roared, shoppers turned to look. After 400 yards he was still with us and we stopped. Chris bent over and drew the lapel of his jacket across his throat. ‘Well done mate’ he said ‘ you have caught us here is a fiver get your self a drink’. The man was delighted and told Chris ‘ye are good man so u r”. As he headed for the nearby bar he turned his parting quip was ‘u’ he said, looking at me ‘u r a right basta”. Chris told me never ever argue with a drunk and the best way to deal with one is buy him a drink and then make yourself scarce. The collar move by the way was in case the man had a knife. It was to protect his throat!
For some reason we got the overnight sleeper back after a dinner with clients. It was Chris’s idea as he said we should not miss second of business on the following day. He meant it too. We had a few drinks in the bar and as it was getting late we decided to head for bed. The fun side of Chris was about to come out. We entered the passageway of the sleeper compartment. In a dramatic way Chris signalled that due to the low lighting he would scout ahead to ensure everything was ‘OK’. I joined in the theatre giggling. Half way done the carriage Chris broke in to a trot banging on the doors and shouting ‘Tickets Please’ Startled heads appeared at each door but Chris was by now at the end of the carriage and I had to face the music. We were in the third carriage so there was a repeat in the second.
He suggested I learn to ride a motorbike. We went to Wimbledon dog track where courses were run from. Three days later in Croydon we were both declared fully capable of driving any motor bike on the road. I had already bought my helmet but no bike . That was too change. Chris bought a Honda Fireblade. On the front of a motor bike mag of the day was a picture of a Honda VFR. It had two square headlights. The advert read ‘Look me in the eyes and tell me that you love me” I was smitten. I mentioned my intention to Liz secretly hoping she would talk me out of it. I rang my dear departed Mum who was excited and announced she would ride on the pillion. “it will remind me of my youth’ she said.
I found myself ordering one of the bikes from a shop in Watford. It was the local main dealer. It was about ten days later I rolled up at the shop. Crash helmet under my arm. I went to the counter and introduced my self. The man barely looked up but shouted across the shop to a man who was tall with a white tee shirt with some logo or other on it. He had a pony tail large muscled arms and he had several tattoos. ‘Dave’ ‘this is Dennis” he said nodding in my direction. ‘He is here for the VFR’. The shop was pretty full of bikers I remember checking out the bikes and the kit. Dave told me he would be about 20 minutes getting the bike ready. I told him I had things to do and I went up stairs to the clothing department. I had no leathers you see. I bought a jacket with loads of reinforcement and almost square padded shoulders. A pair of leather pants and of course the boots with reinforced toecaps. Oh and the gauntlets. I paid for the goods but when the assistant asked me if I wanted them in one or two bags I imagine he was a little surprised when I said ” I will wear then out thankyou”.
I puled as many labels off as I could see. I did not managed them all by any means as I found out when I finally got home. I came down the stairs a man in his late forties dressed from head to toe in new ,leathers with the tags still on in many cases. Err!! Just a little teeny bit uncomfortable I was.
Dave espied me and greeted me loudly. ‘Hi Den’. He then summoned the crowd of bikers in the shop. ‘hey boys” he shouted, this is Den and he is picking up the VFR. As he did so he pointed to the front of the shop and standing outside the open door was a thing of beauty, my bike. Self consciously I shuffled forward. The ‘boys’ gathered round and ‘ooed and aaghed’ at my bike. It was then that Dve asked me the fateful question. ‘Lovely bike Den’ he said ‘what did you have before this then’? My mind went blank I looked around for inspiration but could think of none. ” I sheepishly replied ‘ err this is my first bike I only passed my test two weeks ago” There was silence for a moment then Dave replied. “You mean to tell me that you only passed your test two weeks ago and this, a VFR, is your first bike, -Fuckin Cool” he high fives me as did the assembled throng who sort of cheered. I got on it, started it and somehow road off down the road. The route home included the M1. I loved that bike. Thanks Chris.
John Lynch is probably one of the best looking men I have ever met. He was a ‘mountain leader’ in the marines which makes him an elite in the elite. I watched him racing Ironman races on some of the toughest course in the world. he never ever showed any concern related to his efforts he never even looked as if he was trying. But wherever he went the ladies would just stare open mouthed at this superb physical specimen. A delight of man personally he lives with his lovely wife and beautiful daughter building a new life outside the marines. Before any female admirers gets any ideas John’s wife is beautiful too and also is in superb shape and just so you know was once a winner of Britains strongest woman!!
I have a long list of these guys I could write about. All I will say is this if you get the chance to include one of them in your organisation do. Don’t worry what they will do you will find something and the pay back you will get will be enormous. I met a woman recently who was a board member of a public company and she too had discovered the secret.
If you believe you can overcome any challenge, if you have proven you can succeed under the most enormous pressure when utterly exhausted and you can still register a smile you are a special man or woman indeed and having someone like that on your team will change things it really will. You will be amazed,
Tales of a Life Well Lived 