Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2010 | Page 40

interview

Island Life - August/September 2010
PHOTOS: Left: Never mind the lycra look at the coral (Great barrier Reef)
Below: This one didn't bite! (Great
Barrier Reef)
Right:11,200 feet - now it gets really
tough - Altitude kills! with Nepalese
guide Capt Teck

in two Land Rovers accompanied by
drivers and guides. They lived under
canvas for 10 days while meeting the
Maasai people. He was particularly
impressed with a 93-year-old elder who
told him:
“We always discuss things in an
open forum before making a decision.
Murder is very rare here, but if it
did happen we would decide on the
punishment – with the perpetrator
usually excluded from the tribe and
fined maybe 36 cows.
“A reasonable wealthy Maasai
probably has five or six cows. Obviously
the guy cannot pay the ‘fine’ so then
we go to his family – mother and

walking along tracks where only

England candidate. Deep down he

father, brothers and sisters, uncles and

donkeys had gone before but not one

never really expected to cause an

aunts – who also have cows and go

murmur of discontent. Many people

upset, and in such a busy schedule

through the process of taking them

lack that roundness.”

Westminster would probably have

until the fine is paid.”
Paul reckons that is a great way of

He has also jumped out of airplanes,

proved an inconvenience.

and as a qualified scuba diver, has

However, he has carried the

dealing with such matters and focuses

swum with sharks off Australia’s Great

philosophy of trust and confidence into

responsibility. He believes it is much

Barrier Reef. He says: “The key to

his financial services business, saying:

better than a system that puts someone

it all is trusting the people who are

“I regard myself as the guide through

in prison ‘giving them bed and

responsible for you.

the minefield of money management.

breakfast for 30 years with a colour TV
thrown in’.
After Everest and Tanzania, Paul

“When it comes to sharks it is best to

My career is to advise clients on

know which ones bite. But the guide

investments and tax.”

says ‘just do what I have told you to do

Not bad for someone who openly

helped take a group of visually impaired

and you will be fine’. It’s so true that

admits his only interests at school were

adventurers through the Higher Atlas

you just have to have the confidence of

football and motorbikes, before he

Mountains in the northern Sahara,

the people around you to succeed.”

spent many years in farming.

up to 10,000ft. He reflects: “These
people may have had a disability, but

He was brought up in a cottage in
One venture he was not successful

the middle of a wood in Kent, with the

were incredibly spirited and never

at was when he stood at this year’s

nearest town, Royal Tunbridge Wells,

complained. We were falling in ravines,

General Election as the Island’s Middle

nine miles away.

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