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Sir Richard Heygate Bt.

Descended on the paternal side from the personal banker to the Grand Old Duke of York, and on the maternal, from a long line of Celtic Kings and Queens, Richard Heygate’s life always promised to alternate between the eccentric and the establishment. Leaving Oxford, his first job was in selling used cars in a seamy district of East London, much frequented by gangsters. The necessity of obtaining a “proper” job, insisted on by a prospective father-in- law, led him to IBM (where he was part of the team which developed the first ATM) then management consultancy at McKinsey.

The death of his equally eccentric father (chiefly known for running off with Evelyn Waugh’s wife, “She Evelyn”) gave him the families run down estates in Northern Ireland to care for. Richard astonished his neighbours by building a full scale fish smoking factory in the garden. His proudest PR was being described as “Le Roi de Saumon Fume” in the Haitian Port au Prince Gazette. A return to consultancy followed, then more entrepreneurialism. Richard now runs companies in England and Bulgaria, a country he has grown to love as a “Second Ireland”.

Along the way, Richard married twice unsuccessfully, before finding his lovely Irish wife, Suzie. He has fathered three children, of all of whom he is intensely proud. Some years back he helped his cousin and best friend, Michael Daunt, set up the Hugh Falkus School of casting. His fees were to be a day’s Mayfly fishing a year. Pressure of business has come in the way of collection, so Richard decided to work with Mike on a TV programme about fishing and the country, thus combining business with pleasure.

Michael Daunt

Michael Daunt is descended from Irish squires on his father’s side who lived at Kilcascan Castle in Co Cork. One of his ancestors fought the last duel in Ireland in 1822, typically over his dalliance with a neighbours wife and was killed on the third shot! On his mother’s side, which is the same as Sir Richard Heygate, he is descended from Celtic King’s and Queens. He was educated at Rugby School and was dragged screaming to The Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst by his father since he actually wanted to be an actor.

Eventually, to his surprise, he was commissioned into The Royal Green Jackets and served in Malaya, Borneo and Berlin. His commanding officer wrote of him that: “Men will follow this officer if only out of a sense of curiosity.” He left the army in 1967 and started his own business in London called ‘The Salmon Pool’. This involved buying fish and game and selling them to directors dining rooms in the West End of London and The City. He only employed very good looking public school boys to drive his vans. These delivered the goods to the equally good looking ‘Alice Banded’ little girls who worked in the kitchens of the company dining rooms. Thus the whole enterprise was entirely based on bonking and was hugely successful.

The company was sold in 1980. As he was deciding what to do next Michael was telephoned by the late Hugh Falkus who made the very successful documentaries for the BBC’s World About Us series ‘Salmo The Leaper’ and ‘Self Portrait of a Happy Man.’ Michael had known Falkus for many years as he was a close friend of his father’s. “You’ve done very well.” said Hugh, “but what are you going to do now?” Very little,” replied Michael, “Maybe go round the world for a year and then decide.” “Bad idea,” replied Hugh, “You’ll drink far too much and almost certainly get the clap. Come and work with me and we’ll have a lot of fun together.”

Michael worked with Falkus, both researching his books and teaching fly fishing with him, until his death in 1996. Hugh left Michael his name in his will since, although an atheist, he was also determined to be immortal. After Falkus’s death Michael continued to teach fishing and has made The Hugh Falkus School of Spey Casting the best known in Britain. Among his clients are Jeremy Paxman, Ronnie Corbett, Chris Tarrant and Fiona Armstrong.

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