Rich List 2017
222 = £550m No change ■
SIR JACK PETCHEY
Property158 • thesundaytimes.co.uk/richlistThe property tycoon and philanthropist on
marrying at 90 and why he refuses to retire
Sir Jack Petchey
A life in the day
B
orn in Plaistow, east London,
Petchey, 91, left school at 13.
He served in the navy in the
Second World War and set up a
taxi business with his first car in- He got married in 1949 to
Diane Harrison and they had four
children: Jackie, Susan, John and
Amanda. He moved into car sales,
then started a property business
in 1954. He is now worth £550m.
In 1999, he set up the Jack Petchey
Foundation, which has donated
more than £110m to help young
people. In 2016, he was knighted
and married the sculptor Frances
Segelman, then aged 66, who has
two children, John and Victoria.
They live in east London.
I get up between 7am
and 8am. My wife,
Frances, is usually up
already. We have a Georgian house
by the river and, from the window, I
can see Tower Bridge and the Shard.
I’ve always thought you should
look smart for work, so I put on a
shirt and tie every day. I’ll then joinWORDS OF
WISDOMBEST ADVICE
I WAS GIVEN
I credit the American
writer Dale Carnegie
for helping me to
practise positive
thinking. I’d recommend
him to anyoneADVICE I’D GIVE
Plan your work, then
work your plan.
You wouldn’t plan
a journey without
planning the route, the
same goes for businessWHAT I WISH
I’D KNOWN
How important
education isFrances for breakfast, which is tea
and cornflakes. She’s a sculptor and
everyone from the Queen and
Prince Charles to Boris Johnson
and Joanna Lumley has sat for her.
Some would say I’ve come a long
way, but it’s only a few miles from
where I was born in Plaistow. My
father was a signalman who spent
too much time in the pub; my
mother cleaned posh houses in
Wanstead and did waitressing.
I have one sister — Joan. Home was
a rented room in a terraced house.
I got my first job when I was six
running errands for neighbours. I
then worked in an ironmonger’s and
a grocer’s. At 12, I was prosecuted
for working under age. I left school
at 13 and got a job as an office boy for
the Solicitors’ Law Stationery
Society, near Fleet Street. I got 12s
a week. I saved, but if things were
tight at home, I gave it to my mother.
Not long after, war broke out and
I worked as a messenger boy for
East Ham’s fire brigade. I’d go out
when the bombs dropped and my
mother would say: “Do be careful,
son.” When I was 17, I volunteered
for the navy. In 1947, I was
discharged and bought my first car
with my war gratuity. This time,
I was going to work for myself.We’ve just moved office to Canary
Wharf. It’s an old dockmaster’s
house that takes me back to the late
1940s when the docks here were full
of ships. With my second-hand car,
I’d take sailors coming off the boats
up to Euston station. I’d get six men
in and charge a total of 12s 6d.
Today, a car picks me up. It comes
at 9.30, I’m in the office by 10. I’ll
read reports, check the papers and
flick through magazines like Estates
Gazette and Property Week. I deal
mostly in property now, so I look to
see if anything catches my eye.
I might be 91, but retirement’s not
on the cards. I’m not so mobile, but
I’ve got my hearing, my eyesight
and I’m as sharp as a pin, so I know
a good deal when I see one. Life is
good. Last year, Frances and I got
married and I was knighted.
Lunch is in the office, just a ham
sandwich, a few grapes and a coffee.
By 22, I had my own fleet of cars. I
then began selling cars, but realised
the best profits were in property. My
first deal was a railway arch I got for
£200,000, then sold for £350,000.
By 1960, I was married with a family
and moved from a council property
in Barking to a house in Upminster.
The motto I use in life is: “If you
think you can, you can.” Of course,
the opposite of that is: “If you think
you can’t, you can’t.” If I thought
like that, I wouldn’t be where I am
now. The right mental attitude is key.
A lot of my time is now devoted
to giving something back, and in
1999 I set up a foundation. My aim
was to help kids who needed it the
most. It takes just one person who
believes in you to change your life.
We have an awards scheme open to
more than 2,000 schools and youth
clubs, and in 2006 we opened the
Petchey Academy in Hackney.
I’m home by 6pm and Frances
and I will discuss our day over
dinner. We’ve been together for 25
years and never tire of things to talk
about. We have two housekeepers
and meals are grilled or steamed,
but I still have fish and chips once
a week. It takes me back to the
penny bags of chips I got as a kid.
I never switch off and keep my
mind sharp by playing bridge. I also
go to a lot of the kids’ awards
events and have a boys’ night out
with my grandsons once a month.
I try to be in bed by 12, thankful
for today and always
thinking: “Roll on
tomorrow.” n
Interview by Ria Higgins
jackpetcheyfoundation.org.uk STEWART MARKS / THE URBAN SNAPPER