My Dad Jim

First of all, here's a short clip of my dad serenading young me with his golden tones.

Symphony No.7 in A Major, Second Movement by Ludwig van Beethoven, 1813

Well, the festive season is now well and truly over, and for many that means it’s time to get back to the reality of having to earn a living and go back to work.  Three cheers!

Much of my own work ethic and shrewd business acumen appears to have come from my father, Jim.  He had a number of different careers throughout his working life, one of which was kick-started by my mother getting pregnant where all previous plans of being an artist were exchanged instead for his becoming a self-employed picture framer, eventually running a workshop and gallery in London Victoria.

The work involved a fair amount of driving around London which I think he enjoyed.  His hard-nosed, time-is-money business approach and ability to focus on the job at hand without distraction is perhaps best illustrated by his once enjoying a cassette of Beethoven's 7th Symphony on the car stereo so much he had to keep driving round the block of the gallery several times until it finished, before he could bring himself to park the car and go back in to work.

He employed a team of highly professional and dedicated workers, one of whom had a fascination for Vikings and worked upstairs in the workshop. 

One day this man proudly descended the spiral staircase sporting a Viking helmet, axe and shield, all beautifully made out of Jim’s own framing supplies and all done during work hours.  I believe my dad was impressed.

Another employee who had a reputation for being totally irresponsible asked my father if he'd employ an equally irresponsible friend of his.  As anyone in business knows, first impressions are crucial.  During his first meeting with my father, this gentleman proceeded to get so drunk he eventually had to be carried off to bed.

The gallery launched the careers of many exciting young painters and there was nobody else in London producing such high quality, specialized, time-consuming, hand-crafted decorative framing.  They were never short of work and had the luxury of having a number of extremely wealthy clients, including Lawrence Olivier, Peter Sellers, Joan & Jackie Collins, Max Bygraves, and others to whom money was no object.

My father under-charged and the business closed.  But even so he still talks very fondly of that period of his working life.

My mother does not.