How Jim discovered treasure in Macau

My friend Jim Forrester was no stranger to hedonistic pursuits so it’s good to relate a tale fit for a family website.

When we worked together in Hong Kong during the eighties Jim discovered a rich new source of pleasure during a day-trip to Macau, which at the time was still a Portuguese enclave. As we peered through the window of a back-street grocery Jim spotted a clutch of dusty old green bottles. Seconds later he had established that the bottles were Warre’s 1963 Port - and there were dozens more in hibernation there. Barely able to conceal his delight, Jim offered the shop-keeper 10 dollars (about £1) a bottle and we bagged up as many as we could carry back on the ferry to Hong Kong. 

The Prince then made several more trips to Macau before clearing the shop of its treasure and creating a storage problem in his Kowloon flat. Jim had transferred from London with a large and enviable collection of malt whisky, which occupied every available shelf and cupboard. “Oh well,” he said, “We’ll just have to drink the whisky until there’s room for the Port.” (Or was it the other way round?)

Despite the presence in Hong Kong of some of Reuters’ most heroic imbibers it turned out to be an impossible task. Much of the booze returned to Scotland with Jim who, in his long retirement, was always most grateful that we had failed.

For several years in the seventies I worked under Jim on the permanent overnight shift and I fear that over time (encouraged by certain mean-minded editorial executives) an impression has been created that the Prince spent much of his shift asleep. Now anyone who has tried it will know that there is no way you can nod off while your head is resting on a noisy teleprinter.

However, if you have been working all day running the British arm of SOS Children’s Villages, then spending the evening at the opera, surely it is no surprise that the eyelids may get a touch heavy in the depths of the night. But when we had a breaking story Jim would spring into life and mastermind the file with great skill.

Jim had one of the most finely-tuned news noses I’ve encountered and was one of the most intuitive news editors, too. More importantly, he was the most loyal and supportive of colleagues and friends.

The Short Lunch Club, of which he was a founding member, will be swapping Princely anecdotes and raising a glass or two at its next meeting on 10 March. ■