Bon viveur and classic car broker Simon Kidston

Descended from motor racing royalty, this leading classic car broker was raised in Italy, now operates out of Switzerland, and cites Roger Moore as his style guru

1.

My late uncle, ‘Bentley Boy’ Glen Kidston, died 36 years before I was born, but looms large. I inherited his model of the Lockheed Vega in which he set the England to Cape Town record in April 1931, before being killed there weeks later flying a rented aircraft.

2.

When an F1 champion lands his aircraft on your farm airstrip to stop by for a drink, it makes an impression, so when Graham Hill’s desk was offered at auction by John Coombs to benefit the Springfield Boys Club, I didn’t want to miss it. I’m writing this at it now.

3.

Our family home had a mysterious, musty underground cellar and when we emigrated to Italy in 1976 a few bottles came with us. This is the last one: a magnum of 1928 Haut Brion.

4.

My cousins Cath (the designer), Janie and Hugo recently sent me a beautiful monogrammed black silk dressing gown by Sulka of Bond St. It was made for their grandfather Glen and never worn.

5.

My passions outside cars are Bond movies (Roger Moore was my era) and early-1980s New Wave. We started a dodgy band at Aiglon College in Villars, Switzerland, although – it being the ’80s – hairstyles were as important as playing. I still have my Roland Jupiter 8 synthesiser, but I really should learn a second song apart from Enola Gay…

6.

For the first 18 years of my career I organised classic car auctions. Bonhams’ chairman Robert Brooks hired me to start the group’s European operations when I was 28, and gave me my first gavel. I still use it for charity auctions.

7.

As a Laverda-riding teenager in Italy, what I lusted after (apart from Ornella Muti) was a big Ducati. Colleague Emanuele Collo found this one, which now sits next to my desk as a tribute to my brother Nick, who loved bikes and was sadly killed riding his in 2011.

8.

Nick and I attended Aiglon College. I’m still close with school friends around the world and this yearbook with all their hand-scribbled wishes from when we graduated means a lot.

9.

The other big motoring influence was my father, Glen’s younger brother, also a Royal Navy officer. He bought this yellow Porsche Carrera RS new in 1973 and it’s been in the family ever since.

10.

Simon Khachadourian recently found this silver lighthouse in an obscure US auction and decided to reunite it with the great-great-grandson of the chairman of the Clyde Shipping Company, for whom it was made as a gift from staff in 1908. Yes, poor me!