George was born in Royal Leamington Spa, the youngest of four, and grew up in rural Warwickshire, including a strong family link to the city of Coventry, from where George inherited a life of being a long-suffering Coventry City supporter.

George started his formal schooling at Bilton Grange, where he excelled at many things, including being one of the country’s leading table-tennis players. From there he (twice) won a scholarship to Oundle, following brother Charlie and father Michael. Whilst he found himself in a tough year-group in Sanderson he nevertheless rose to become Head of House and a school prefect, earning respect for his academic achievement, success at cross-country (in the absence of any table tennis) and position as a stalwart opening batsman of the 2nd XI cricket team.

His next step took him to Christ Church college at Oxford to read Classics, where he spent four years building a strong friendship group of similarly talented and high-achieving companions. He took up table tennis again, playing alongside Matthew Syed for the University. He also took to the water, like many at Oxbridge, narrowly missing out on a lightweight rowing blue but being sufficiently competent to feature as a rower in the film True Blue, a Hollywood re-telling of the 1986 boat race mutiny.

George had developed a taste for adventure at Oundle, twice using Dudgeon Awards to accompany friends on bicycles through the Loire valley and on the Camino de Santiago. After university he indulged this further by heading off on the Silk Road through the lawless tribal lands of northern Pakistan and then through the vast deserts of western China. He came through this significantly lighter, but with his sense of adventure firmly reinforced.

Paris was therefore a logical next step, as he embarked on his working career, firstly as a management consultant. He immersed himself in French life with an apartment in the lively Marais district and again developed a group of glamorous and chic French friends. George quickly became a fluent French speaker, although never lost his very English accent, and developed a fine collection of wines, whose whereabouts is now known only to a Parisian burglar.

Having done an MBA at Insead, George did what every graduate thereof did, which was to change to a more-exciting career. He moved to Geneva to immerse himself in the life of wealth management, using his dedication and eye-for-detail to ensure that his clients remained clients for as long as he looked after them.

It was in Geneva where George met the most talented person in his life, his wife Catherine – Opera singer, psychiatrist and subsequently mother to their two young daughters. George was diagnosed with lung cancer in late 2019, just before Covid, never having smoked. Despite the attentions of some of the world’s finest doctors and cutting-edge treatment, George left us in February 2023. He will be remembered by all as the most generous, humorous, mischievous and loyal son/brother/friend/husband and father as one could find.