The Lucky Banker - Softcover

Tony Latimer's early life is unextraordinary. Neither having the inclination nor aptitude to go to university, he chooses instead to make his first step on the career ladder, becoming a bank clerk.But when Tony's parents tragically die just before his twenty-first birthday, leaving him with a substantial inheritance, he sets out on a new career path and life that will see him rise to the very top. Taking a job overseas working for an offshore drilling company opens Tony up to all kinds of new opportunities and before long his travel and investments see him accruing quite a substantial fortune and line of lovers. As he hits fifty he finds himself unexpectedly taking over a country estate and entering a new phase in his life.But as he looks to enact his grand plan for the estate and finally to think of settling down, Tony faces new challenges. Will this lucky banker's good fortune finally run out?

The author spent six years as a bank employee, interrupted by two years National Service in The Lancashire Fusiliers. After basic training he was posted to West Germany in January 1955, just in time to witness the return of sovereignty to West Germany in May 1955, ten years after their unconditional surrender in May 1945. As a regimental instructor he had to explain to the Fusiliers the British Army on the Rhine's (BAOR) plan should the much more numerous Russian Army attack West Germany. The Mobile Nuclear Units (MNU) would withdraw to the French border, leaving the PBI (Us The Poor Bloody Infantry) to delay the Russian advance until the MNU could obliterate West Germany along with all the Russians, any remaining PBI, and all the West German citizens who deserved it anyway! Leaving the bank at twenty two to work in the construction and oil industries as an accountant, he has worked in nineteen different countries and forty eight locations for eighteen different companies. He has resigned eleven times, been made redundant four times, and been terminated twice and retired once. In retirement he has cycled many thousands of miles, and written his first novel. In all this he has been ably assisted by his Norwegian wife of forty-five years, during which time they acquired two sons and two granddaughters.