by Dr. Iain
Corness
If
the exhaust pipe on your Morris Minor fell off, I have the culprit - Roy
Harris, an affable Englishman who has retired to Thailand (probably to
escape several irate Morris Minor owners). Roy, who came from Kingsbury,
“the cheaper end of Hendon” in London, has certainly found the better
end of the globe, now resident here.
He was the youngest son born to a father whom he said
had itchy feet, and who raised four families. “He was the best father
you could ever have,” said Roy, “but impossible for women to live
with!”
He went to government schools (Secondshments that Roy
described as producing “factory fodder”, but he opted out at age 15.
His father advised him to go into “money” for a career, so he went to
work as a trainee company secretary while going to night school to be a
chartered accountant. Unfortunately his father died before completion of
the four year course, and Roy, who had hated it, dropped out from there
too, but used his small inheritance to finance business school studies for
12 months.
In what could only be described as serendipity, a
Norwegian rubber company was looking to start an export arm from the UK
and the then 20 year old Roy joined them and was given the title as
regional export manager.
To begin with, it really was just a title, because they
had zero exports. However, within seven years Roy’s exports represented
60 percent of the company’s total production. Things were going well,
until the owner died, and the company and its assets were sold off.
Now he had nothing to export, so he decided he would
open his own factory in Watford. This was certainly a small beginning,
with a staff of three, buying processed rubber and finishing it. This was
the era of the Morris Minor, and Roy was supplying the exhaust pipe
hangers. He supplied a lot as replacement parts, and you can guess why!
Despite the Morry Minors, and the fact that the
landlord at Roy’s local pub in Watford was Andrew Hutchings (now mein
host at the Pig and Whistle, Soi 7), the business boomed and six years
later he opened up another factory in Aylesbury. “This was a mistake,”
said Roy, “I didn’t have enough room, so three years later I took a
larger factory.” If that was not enough, he opened a hydraulics factory
in Cornwall to service the government sponsored tin mines there.
Roy could also see that if he were to continue the
expansion of his companies, he needed a better source of the raw product -
rubber. He formed a consortium with other rubber goods producers in the
UK, and with the combined buying power was able to import from one of the
world’s major rubber producers - Thailand! The connection was made.
By the mid-1980’s Roy began to consolidate. He had
sold off the hydraulics factory before the government pulled the plug on
the tin mines, and then brought all his remaining factories under one
roof, and spent capital in modernizing, automating and computerizing. He
also branched out into plastics. Again he was doing the right thing at the
right time. One could almost say he was the man with the Midas touch. And
he was making good “comfortable” money as Roy puts it, supplying
rubber parts for such diverse markets as Dennis Fire Engines, AMF Bowling
centers and the scraper blades for the sewage industry (was this scraping
the bottom of the industry?).
There was enough “comfortable” money to allow Roy
to go on sea cruises, and he began to see that the cruise business could
be a good business, so he went to California and opened up a travel agency
that only sold cruises. He also noted that ladies, after booking their
cruises, would go shopping for new outfits. “So I opened up a fashion
boutique next door.” I resisted asking if he called it “Midas
Fashions”!
So there he was by 1990, the rubber man was flitting
elastically around the globe six times a year. If he wasn’t on a cruise
liner, he was in the air, clocking up 250,000 travel miles a year. Now on
these world trips (and some of it was for business) he would often find
himself sitting bored in hotel rooms. To fill in the time, he taught
himself to play blackjack. Not the ‘penny pontoon’ game, but the
full-blown four packs at a time casino blackjack. This took him four
years, but he was now ready for Reno, Las Vegas, Macau, Hong Kong,
Adelaide and the like. “Casinos like to see someone making small amounts
of money,” said Roy, “because it brings the other punters in. Who
lose!” Roy denies having been a “high roller”, but he was sent air
tickets and had free accommodation given to him, so perhaps a “low
roller” will suffice!
By the mid-90’s Roy had had enough. It was time to
retire, so he began to divest himself of his businesses. The rubber
factory, the cruise agency and Madame’s fripperies next door. Mind you,
he did remain on as a consultant, but by 1997 he was free of his business
cares. Now it really was time to retire. But where? “I thought about
America, but California is very provincial, I liked Mexico and the Far
East, and eventually decided on Thailand. I looked at Phuket, but Pattaya
was within two hours of an international airport and had lots of golf
courses. I also had some old business friends here and many old
acquaintances (like Andrew Hutchings).”
So Pattaya it was, and to the golf courses. I expected
to hear about some fabulously low handicap. “I am the worst golfer
you’ll ever meet,” said Roy. What’s more he has a handicap of 32 to
prove it!
Now Roy Harris is just looking forward to “leading a relatively happy
life for the next 30-40 years.” Hopefully the handicap will improve in
that time too!
