I sold the place in the 1990s because we needed the capital to buy the cottage next door in Sydney. I couldn’t have timed it worse. A matter of weeks after it went, the London property market, which had been pretty level for decades, suddenly went into overdrive. Some people have the knack for these things, and I don’t. Sometimes the kids will look at me and say, Why did you sell that flat, Dad? They loved it. And I ask the same thing of myself. Why? Bloody thing would be worth millions now. The answer, of course, is that I bought the cottage next door largely for them. Children, my children,
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