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The Accountant That Got Away

9th Sep 2015
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One has to feel sorry for Sir David Hare who almost joined a local firm at the age of 15 but stepped away at the last minute.

In Sussex half a century ago, a Scottish lady named Mrs Hare attempted to line up her young son David for articles with a local firm.

Mrs Hare must have very wisely had in mind the prospect of a solid career that could well have led her boy to a comfortable lifestyle as a respected partner in a provincial practice. Indeed, by now, had her wishes been fulfilled he could well be comfortably off in retirement, playing a lot of golf and looking back on a quietly successful career.

Instead, the youngster elected to continue his education at Lancing and then Cambridge. He very swiftly became one of the most successful playwrights currently living and is now renowned for his intelligence and radical attitudes, constantly feted by the rich and famous.

This fact is revealed in his recently published memoirs The Blue Touch Paper. Judging by the attitudes revealed in what is a very good read, one would have to doubt whether Sir David would have been a good auditor, although his imaginative mentality might have been rather more effective in the glamorous world of taxation or perhaps corporate finance.

Then again, his socialist beliefs might not have gone down well with the asset strippers and corporate raiders who would have been clients in that field.

David Hare is not the only almost-accountant who was forced to plough his furrow elsewhere and prosper.  His fellow knight Sir Mick Jagger, who studied the discipline at the LSE, was lost to the profession and forced to pursue a less secure (and who knows, perhaps less fulfilling) vocation as a sex symbol and rock star.

It is somewhat sad and ironic that such intelligent youngsters would reject an opportunity of this type when every year there are thousands of their peers who are clamouring to become accountants but do not make the grade either through failure at school and university exams or professional equivalents.

David Hare may still harbour regrets but covers them well in the book. Presumably the experience of having the National Theatre of Great Britain begging you to write a play, producers demanding film scripts so that Meryl Streep will have something to do and publishers eager to share memoirs of your early life with the public helps to soften the blow.

While this can hardly compare to the excitement of auditing the local bakery or filling in a tax return for an octogenarian widow, perhaps the additional compensations of becoming a knight of the realm and marrying Nicole Farhi, one of the few fashion designers with a name that even men recognise, might also help to dampen the obvious disappointment.

At least his revelation is refreshing since, for some inexplicable reason, very few high-profile personalities seem willing to admit to their disappointment at missing out on a career in the profession.

It would be interesting to learn whether there are similarly esteemed individuals in other walks of life who also (do not) regret their failure to make it in what we would all agree is the number one profession for those of intelligence, integrity and daring.

Perhaps David Cameron, Amy Winehouse, Wayne Rooney and J.K. Rowling are all on that list, though somehow I doubt it.

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By bandarq
06th Oct 2016 10:51

bandarq Nice Buddy

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