Steve Jordan interviews Gordon Bell as he settles into life in the UK after a career in Asia.
It had been a while since I had seen Gordon Bell, Chairman of Asian Tigers, and even longer since we had spent any real time together. So I was delighted when he agreed to have a chat. He has recently joined the FIDI Board and the FIDI Focus published a very good story about his journey so far in the Jun/Aug issue. But I was more interested in what Gordon felt the future had in store.
We met at a restaurant next to the world-famous Smithfield meat market in London. Gordon was already there when I arrived, dressed in polo shirt and chinos and looking at least 10 years younger than his 65 years.
He’d been in the UK for over three years having spent most of his working life in Asia. It’s tempting to say, back in the UK he comes across as stereotypically English, but Gordon was born in Singapore, so was his father, and his uncle was a Prisoner of War in Changi prison during World War II. Sure, Gordon was educated in Scotland but, other than that, the UK has never been his home.
So why leave Singapore after so many years, and why England. The answer is intriguing ...
Photo: Gordon Bell.