1 Fernand Legros Who is or was Fernand Legros? He is photgraphed here with me in our villa in Cannes in 1962. Sometimes you meet people in your life and... Click here to read the story. or wait a bit and see the film! (Called "Fake" - click here to find out more)

2 The Bank Job

Believe it or not I was indirectly responsible for one of the biggest bank robberies in England.

The story started when I was about 25 years old. I was working for...

Click here to read my story.

Click here to read about the robbery and film

3 The Family Crest

The four names are three of my grandparents; Barnett, Joel and Hobinstock and the Isaacs are the family connected through my paternal grandmother Kate Joel.

The crown has diamonds in it and the British crown jewels have diamonds from the mines owned by Barnett (Barney) Isaacs (Barnato) who is a brother of a sister-in-law of a great-great-grandfather of mine! It was my wanting to find out more about Barney Barnato that started me on this family tree research.

The horse on the left symbolises the horse racing interests that have run through this family. Apart from the Joels’ huge success as breeders, may father owned race horses and even a racecourse – Hawthorn Hill! Both Dad and I owned betting shops so a horse was imperative.  

The bear on the right represents the Hobinstocks and my fourth grandparent who were all in the fur business.

The fish represents my father as he was a very experienced fly fisherman and I was once told by the chairman of his fishing club that Dad was one of the best fly-fishermen in England.

The tower was the closest thing I could find on the website that makes this crest that represented the Levys (my great-grandmother was Rosetta Levy) who were the matzo family bakers. Their shop at 31 Widegate Street, in the City of London is the oldest shop in London!

The chess piece – The Knight – represents the Jameson Raid (29 December 1895 – 2 January, 1896) It was a raid on the Transvaal Republic carried out by the British colonial statesman, Leander Starr Jameson and his Rhodesian and Bechuanaland mounted policemen over the New Year weekend of 1895–96.

Barney Barnato’s nephew, Solomon Joel was found guilty of high treason for his part in the Jameson Raid.

Finally the flying dragon - my daughter Manon was born in Perpignan, France which is in Catalonia, once a country a bit like the Basque Country in Northern Spain. Manon is thus a Catalan and very proud of it. I am of course English. Dragons are well-known in Catalan myths and legends, in no small part because St. George (Catalan Sant Jordi) is the patron saint of Catalonia and the patron Saint of England too. Like most dragons, the Catalan dragon (Catalan drac) is an enormous serpent with two legs, or, rarely, four, and sometimes a pair of wings.