I have always felt very lucky to have had Paul as my father. He was a giant of a man, strong yet gentle, determined yet kind, very focused and hardworking yet always ready to have fun with a cheeky smile and a twinkle in his eye– he had a wonderful sense of humour.
He was extremely proud of being British and his life’s work was about improvement.
I am very grateful that I was able (and more importantly he was able to understand) how proud I was of him and his achievements and indeed that I found him a hard act to follow….
I was lucky enough to be a pupil at the Malcolm Sargent’s School for a couple of years – which I loved and in later life when I was studying business and he was planning to go “Grant Maintained” we were able to have good chats about the management and running of the Malcolm Sargent’s.
He loved so many things in life, food being one of them and would endlessly keep me entertained (and he in chocolate that I have been given in Christmas Stockings / Easter Eggs) with tricks he has learnt at Boarding School to get his fellow students to give him food!
Wine was another favourite and Neut St George, or “newts” as one of his hero’s Ernie Bevan would say, much to Dad’s amusement.
He was endlessly positive and resilient, even when he was so poorly. “I think we’ll get through this one Mill” during his last bout of illness.
He was extremely patient and never had a bad word to say about anyone.
“ less is more” was a favourite expression if he thought someone was talking too much
Another was “that could be misread..” if someone said something that he thought was unkind/ wrong
And the wisest one of all …“every action creates a reaction”.

Rest In Peace Dear Dad