by Dr. Iain
Corness
Richard
Wyatt in some ways belongs to another era, the time when family
connections were more important than academic qualifications, but he is
happy to acknowledge this. In fact Richard is one of those lucky souls who
seems happy with himself, his life and his circumstances. He is also very
British and has a wealth of old colonial tales.
Richard was born in Surrey and his father was a
gentleman farmer. Richard regaled me with Wyatt’s to whom he was
related, including Woodrow Wyatt and a ‘grand-aunt’ who was married to
A.A. Milne’s brother (Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin)! “We were
privileged, but no money fell down our way,” said Richard.
He went to school at Bradfield College and was a fair
hand with the cricket bat, but even better at Squash rackets, even getting
to the County third round in the early 1950’s. He still has the document
to prove it, bringing it along for the interview.
After finishing school, there was no university for
Richard. He was called up for National Service! The young conscripts were
then sent for exhaustive interviews to see who would become cannon fodder
and who would give the orders to fire. Since Richard knew how to hold his
knife and fork he was sent to Officer Cadet school where he did four
months training to emerge as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 5th Royal Tank
Regiment. He was originally supposed to be going into the cavalry, but had
realized that the young Cavalry officers had ‘private means’ and
rather than admit to a relative impecuniousness asked for a transfer to
the tank corps.
After two weeks leave from tank training he was sent to
Korea. “I had a wonderful month, stopping off in Aden, Hong Kong and
Japan.” After disembarkation in Korea he was to join the UN
peace-keeping forces, stationed five miles from the DMZ (de-militarised
zone). His main activity there during his four months in Korea seemed to
be playing cricket and he represented the regiment playing football
against the Turks. The DMZ looked after itself.
From there, Richard and his tanks were sent to Libya
(with whom the UK was friendly at that time - and again now it seems) to
support King Idris against a potential invasion from Egypt. This took up
the next eight months until he had finished his National Service, then
being 20 years of age. Richard looked back on those times saying, “I
hated the army really, but in those days you were expected to serve Queen
and country. If it were now, I think I would be a conscientious
objector!”
After being demobbed it was time to lay the foundations
of a career and he joined the Mercantile Bank of India (eventually taken
over by the HSBC). After 12 months training as a bank officer he was sent
to Mauritius. “I stayed in Mauritius for two years. Two blessed years. I
actually got engaged there, but managed to leave in time,” said Richard
with a grin that indicated that he might have been a bit of a lad in his
time! By now Richard was fully into travel and the colonial lifestyle and
his next port of call was Ceylon, but he had always fancied Hong Kong, so
it was time to change horses (or polo ponies).
His father had ‘connections’ in the Bank of England
and these were enough to get the young man a position in Hong Kong with
the trading company Jardine Matheson. “It was pure nepotism, really,”
explained Richard, as if someone who lives in Thailand is unaware of such
things!
He spent three years in Hong Kong. “I played cricket
for the colony in one match,” said Richard, “and I was the original
secretary of the Hong Kong Rackets Association” (nothing to do with the
Triads). He was Open runner-up for two years in the colony’s squash
competition too.
His next transfer was to Tokyo with Jardine’s,
stopping off in Canada for two weeks to learn about saw milling and paper
making. “I sold 64,000 tons of newsprint to Japan,” said Richard, as
apparently the Japanese had chopped down all their own trees as part of
the war effort. Richard timed his move to fortuitously arrive in Japan in
time for the 1964 Olympics.
Itchy feet or perhaps a lady overly desirous of
marriage from the Ichiban prompted his next move within the Jardine’s
umbrella to join Jardine Waugh in Bangkok. It was 1965 and pre the
American R&R revolution. “On my first night I was taken to Patpong.
It only had two bars, but I was amazed to see all these girls walking
around with brown legs and no stockings,” said Richard. By the first
weekend he was down in Pattaya. “We’d come down for the day. It was
the place for water activities and a place to chill out.”
His days were spent in Bangkok in Thonburi where
Jardine Waugh made him marketing and development manager for Yardley
Cosmetics. “We used to make ‘Brilliantine’ here,” said Richard,
dreaming of the past, just as the name ‘Brilliantine’ evokes it. He
also joined the Royal Bangkok Sports Club, where he was the finalist in
the ‘abandoned’ Squash rackets final of 1965.
In the evenings the “brown legs and no stockings”
were proving to be a little bit of a problem and it was suggested that a
trip back to the UK might help lower the libido. This it did do for a
short time, but he was soon back in SE Asia working to introduce
‘Marmite’ and then market brewers and bakers yeast. “I was known as
the ‘Yeast of the East!’”
After 15 years he retired, settling initially in the Philippines, but
came back to Pattaya in 2001 and has been here ever since. “I quite like
the visa runs,” said Richard. “I go to Sihanoukville. It’s like
Pattaya 30 years ago, but Pattaya today’s got everything!” It
certainly has, and it’s got Richard Wyatt too.
