Evening Standard from London, Greater London, England • 19

MONDAY 3 DECEMBER 19 EVENING STANDARD rMan who missed millions! -j- 'V A i 4 delay Wine Hampers St Nicholas £100 £12 Chairmans 85 7 Directors 60 7 Executive 40 7 Packs £2250 £750 £3000 £400 MEMORIES flooded back for David Davies as he strolled around a rambling old manor house The paint was peeling and weeds grew where splendid flower beds once flourished but the first visit to Sutton Manor in more than 40 years was a startling reminder of things past and what might have been for Mr Davies a self-employed driving instructor who earns about £100 a week It could all have been very different for the 59-year-old bachelor with simple tastes The 300-year-old house set in rolling Warwickshire countryside a 12-acre estate in Barbados flats on Park Lane and Park Avenue and a multimillion fortune could have been his David Davies is the mystery man whom eccentric cor-setry heiress Dorothea Allen had desperately wanted to adopt as a young boy back in the When she died intestate in January 'he would have been the only beneficiary Mr and Mrs Allen in the Bahamas in 1961 his boyhood by eccentric heiress The world famous fine food and wine store Fortnum Mason advise that the closing date for receipt of hamper orders is Monday 10 December So if you ordered your Fortnums Festive Feast yet all is not lost! Write telephone fax or call but reach us no later than Monday 10 December Include method of payment and full delivery instructions with all orders Food Hampers Berkeley £100 £12 Duke 70 7 Earl 50 7 Statesman 40 7 Gift Port Stilton Christmas Box i- the first few weeks I was terribly homesick and cried night after night then I befriended the son Geoffrey Clifton' and he taught me to ride my pony Jennifer which the Allens had bought for me The woman insisted on calling me David yet everyone knew me as Haydn my middle name It was always to Mrs Allen and to her husband remember how they used to come sweeping up the long drive in their Rolls sounding the klaxon horn I would run to get the garage doors open for them It was a fabulous place to live in as a boy as long as I kept reasona-! bly out of way The rolling fields and countryside were a delight to wander and yes I was happy in that idyllic lifestyle she asked my mother if she could adopt me All this was hushed up from me but I do remember being extremely thankM to be back home It all came to an abrupt end but I remember an emotional reunion with my mother and sisters course I kept in touch with the Allens for many years and we would send each other Christmas cards and say hello on the Mrs Allen died aged 89 in January A social recluse in later life given to wild fantasizing she left no will and destroyed her passport family papers and letters as if to conceal her private past Mrs death caused a society sensation more than half a century since hers was a name that made news The Treasury Department had been looking for an heir for months without success and her art treasures the house furniture jewellery and opulent wardrobe all went under the hammer But even though he could have inherited the millions Mr Davies said: MI would not have wanted a penny of it She was an eccentric domineering woman and I like her much at all In fact without wishing to sound ungrateful I was relieved to get away and return home to my The childless society starlet who had danced with Fred Astaire and was on first name terms with Errol Flynn and Clark Gable had offered to take in young David as a sickly child of 11 fUl Ini TRANSPLANTS Remarkable results using the very latest techniques from the -US A producing a natural hair look For a FREE consultation 071-224 1602 (London) 081-597 4321 (Ilford) KINGS PRIVATE CLINICS (UK) by Andrew Chapman uin need of fresh air and His widowed mother Elizabeth worked for Eric and Dorothea Allen as a senior executive in their corset and surgical support business and she agreed that young David should go to stay at Sutton Manor in picturesque Sutton-under-Brailes Warwickshire The Allens doted on the boy who was recovering from appendicitis They dressed him in cowboy outfits bought him a pony called Jennifer gave him a black labrador dog called Tommy and put him in his own bedroom done out like a cabin with porthole windows and wood panelled walls Life was sweet for young David in the war years which forced many children to be evacuated from their homes and families He befriended the estate son Geoffrey Clifton who taught him to ride And the first car he steered was Rolls Royce while sitting on her lap The youngster had always been known as Haydn to his family and friends but Mrs Allen in- sisted he be called David which has stuck with him ever since Then came the day longing for a child of her own became unbearable After three years she wanted to adopt him as Telephone Order Department 071-465 8666 or Fax 071-437 3278 FORTNUM MASON Pic 181 PICCADILLY LONDON W1A 1ER The reclusive Mrs Allen her own son and pleaded with his mother Elizabeth to let him take her name Elizabeth would hear none of it threatening to resign from the firm From that moment her idyllic lifestyle came to a dose Mrs Allen went to his room to tell him: mother wants you to be at the station at Banbury at noon Mr Davies said: could have been heir to the estate but I be happier with what got Money I swap my mongrel dog Suzy for a million pounds remember those days as live-in guest of the Allens She was strange to say the least and I was somewhat afraid of her domineering manner and would keep well out of her way Mr Allen was a gentleman Life was the -lap of luxury I believe she fed her dogs on caviare For 6 0 0 0 0 A I Moriil fir tie Vilil Snsooi Schosl -get I fasfciea lilrevt for £250 Fkeae 071-499 5008 Celeiipera ippeiitRiits aveilahle.