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Autobiography

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however, it had still not sold due to a slump in<br />

the market.<br />

However, David rented some of the buildings<br />

to traders and set up stalls in the car park on<br />

short-term lets. The entire site was<br />

transformed into an indoor and outdoor<br />

Sunday market. In the first financial year it<br />

brought in sufficient income to pay the interest<br />

on the original £200,000 investment plus a<br />

handsome profit. Over the years we purchased<br />

a number of adjacent properties, which added<br />

to the size of the site. David later came to me<br />

for £1 million for a new project and we doubled<br />

our money in less than a year and we shared<br />

in the profit. Then the original site, Greenwich<br />

Market in London, was sold in 2005 for £15<br />

million.<br />

When I first gave him the £200,000 he told me<br />

how he envied my relationship with Ralph, how<br />

we could share our adversities and our<br />

successes. He clearly took it to heart and<br />

formed a strong partnership with his two<br />

brothers, John and Andrew. Together the three<br />

of them established the highly successful Up<br />

the Creek comedy club in Greenwich.<br />

When you are on your own and things are<br />

going wrong, you really are on your own. I<br />

equate it with flying solo in an aeroplane; if I<br />

am alone any problem is magnified, but when<br />

there are two of you it is genuinely a problem<br />

halved.<br />

The understanding between Ralph and me was<br />

almost telepathic. I cannot recount the number<br />

84

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