Prof Graham Leslie CBE published his autobiography, Ahead Of The Curve, last summer with all money from its sale going to charity.
In a move that’s thought to be the first of its kind in the publishing industry, Graham also wanted to give people who bought the book the chance to win a prize that would be highly personal to them and one which would normally cost thousands of pounds.
The book included a competition where people had to answer three questions and the winner received a specially commissioned artwork done by Royal artist Richard Gower, who lives in Mirfield, West Yorkshire.
The winner was Christina Bas, who lives near Falmouth in Cornwall. She spotted Graham’s book online after a story about it in the media popped up in her newsfeed, thought it was an inspiring read and so entered the competition.
Richard is a highly talented and incredibly flexible artist so could paint in any style the winner may want from traditional through to surreal or expressionist.
Christina and her daughter, Nia, love Picasso and so opted for a Picasso-style interpretation of Nia holding their cat, Socrates.
And they absolutely love the result.
Christina said: “Richard kindly gave me a virtual tour round his studio and it was a hard choice to make to choose just one style because all his various styles are charming in their different ways.
“He skilfully draws on inspiration from distinguished historical artists for some works and I was drawn to their vibrant colours.
“A Picasso-influenced work seemed to hit all the right notes and Richard said he felt inspired to set about creating something special, working from a photo of my daughter hugging her beloved cat.
“We both absolutely love Richard’s interpretation and will cherish it forever. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime treasure.”
Graham founded highly successful pharmaceuticals company Galpharm, became the instigator and driving force behind building Huddersfield’s stadium 30 years ago when he was chairman of Huddersfield Town FC and was the founder chairman of Kirklees Stadium Development Ltd. The stadium was the first all-seater football and rugby stadium in the UK, was seen as a trailblazer at the time and its architect, Rod Sheard, went on to design the new Wembley Stadium.
Graham is known for his love of art and thought the chance to win personalised artwork by such a top artist is a highly unusual prize.
To enter, people had to answer these three questions.
- There is one inspirational story in the book that was totally made up, but could people spot it?
- How much did Huddersfield Town FC captain Peter Jackson earn a week in 1992/93?
- How much did popular Irish international Kieran O’Regan, who also played for Town that season, earn weekly?
The made-up story was one Graham told about starfish, claiming he’d stayed at Runsick Bay in North Yorkshire and there had been a terrible storm one night. When he got up in the morning and went to the beach he saw that thousands of starfish had been washed ashore by the crashing waves.
The sun was starting to come up which meant the starfish would quickly perish but in the distance Graham spotted a lone fisherman picking the starfish up and placing them back in the sea. He went to help and was starting to put some of the starfish back into the water when a dog walker ambled up.
He said to the fisherman: “What are you doing?”
The fisherman replied: “I’m placing the starfish back into the sea otherwise they’d be scorched by the sun.”
The dog walker said: “Well, there’s thousands of them. What difference will it make?”
The fisherman gently put two more starfish into the sea, turned to the dog walker and said: “Well, it made a difference to them.”
Graham thought the story was poignant and a reflection of life itself, helping people to set off in business and start their careers so urged others to never pass any starfish in life, but always give them a chance.
Ironically, when the book was in production, thousands of starfish were actually washed up onto the beach in Margate, Kent.
In terms of the other answers, Peter Jackson earned £750 a week and Kieran O’Regan £375. Christina guessed the correct made-up story and was closest with her guesses, thinking that Peter was on £774.52 a week and Kieran on £625.86.
Christina added that she wanted the starfish including in her personal painting from Richard.
She said: “We wanted to be reminded of the starfish tale from the book whenever we look at the painting so asked Richard to put a tiny starfish somewhere within the image.”
The autobiography is now virtually sold out with only around 50 copies left and has so far raised almost £20,000 for Making Waves which is the charitable side to the Waves day centre in Huddersfield for people with learning and/or physical difficulties
Graham says of art: “I love art and the immense skill and creativity it involves never ceases to amaze and inspire me. Richard Gower is so talented and can paint in any style from Picasso to Van Gogh.”
Richard did a painting depicting the Duke of Edinburgh’s last ever formal engagement which the Queen loved and is thought to be the only time she had accepted a painting that had not been specially commissioned.
He also did a painting of Huddersfield Town centre back Christopher Schindler scoring the winning penalty at Wembley to send Town into the Premier League in 2017.
Richard painted Schindler taking the spot kick and did a limited edition of 50 which raised thousands of pounds for three charities, the Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice in Huddersfield, the Huddersfield Town Foundation and the Leslie Sports Foundation.
Richard is at heart an impressionist in the style of Monet, Renoir and Pissarro but his own series of works, called Reflections, have been likened to a modern-day Lowry.
Richard’s reputation as a British contemporary artist to follow – and collect – is growing, and the prices of his work are rising. Richard is represented by London galleries and takes bespoke commissions.
Ahead Of The Curve, priced £10.99, is available online at https://www.gnbooks.co.uk/product/ahead-of-the-curve/