Porsche-driving hard nut who joined horsey set

NEIL Woodford leaves his Gloucestershire farm for work each morning at 6am, his journey along back roads to Oxford taking 50 minutes.

He keeps to a leisurely pace in his Porsche Cayenne, though after this week, few would forgive him for driving with a heavy foot.

Woodford, 57, is known as Britain’s Warren Buffett for his stock-picking prowess and preference for long-term investments, although similarities to the conservatively-styled ‘Sage of Omaha’ cease there.

Self-confident to the point of cocksure, Woodford prefers Steve Jobs-style black sweatshirts and jeans over suits and ties and keeps his hair cropped, giving the slightly intimidating air of a court bailiff. This gruff exterior makes him an unlikely convert to the genteel world of equestrianism. He spends weekends competing in lowlevel eventing, having been turned on to horses by his wife Madelaine, an amateur showjumper. The couple, who have two children, lived in Henley until a spat with neighbour Jeremy Paxman over plans to build an allweather arena encouraged them to move to Tetbury. Woodford avoids London whenever he can, preferring to base his fund in a soulless industrial estate in Cowley.

Raised in Berkshire, where his father printed postcards, his decision to enter the City in 1981 – following an economics degree at Exeter University – was very much plan B.

He wanted to fly jets in the RAF, but was turned down due to his slow reflexes. Let’s see how quickly he reacts to the Provident Financial meltdown.