Autobiography

married a local girl Alice, and they had decided
to move in.
Because this was a ‘friend’ I played tennis with
we had only a handshake and no contract; it
was an act of faith, using my money to finance
the entire project. His solution was, ‘When I
sell the second property I will give you the
money for the house.’ I reminded him that
we’d had a deal and the house should go up for
sale on completion. But he broke the rules of
friendship and business.
He justified his actions by saying, ‘You are rich
and I am poor’ and it was years down the line
before I got my money back, with no profit.
A few years later I did similar deals with my
good friend David Tearl and again we had no
contract, just a handshake. He would call me
about a deal that needed investment and
would give me a brief synopsis. If I liked it,
and I usually did, I would give him the goahead.
But that’s the difference between a
true friend you can trust, and a man who is
just using you for your money.
Beware of the greedy and the envious; it can
so often lead to the breaking of agreements.
But genuine friendship will never let you down.
I am please to say that my friend David made
millions but when I was asked recently,
‘Whatever happened to Martin Banner?’, my
answer was, ‘I don’t know and ‘I don’t care.’
There is as much wealth in confidence as there
is in knowing what to do with your money, as I
found out during my first business trip abroad,
457