Q&A with Graham Cox

You founded the firm in 1964 because you “didn’t like being told what to do”. What bred that independent streak; where were you born and educated and what did your parents do?

My father was a British citizen employed by Cables and Wireless in Aden. At the time of my birth my mother returned to her family home in Bloemfontein where I was born. Aden was not a place in which anyone would wish to give birth to a child.

When war broke out, my brother and I were living with our parents in St Vincent, which is one of the less hospitable of the Cape Verde islands.

When the island began to run out of food during World War II, my brother and I were lucky to get a passage on a passing troop ship bound from England for Egypt, via the Cape, which dropped us off in Cape Town where we had an aunt and uncle who took care of us.

I was educated at Bishops and UCT. I welcome being told what to do by a creative leader. I do not like being told what to do by people who follow precedents without valid reason. When you started your firm on the second floor of Southern House, Mercury Lane, how many staff did you have?

On the first day of the new firm there were two people – my secretary and me. On the second day we were joined by Paul Valayudum, who remains a valued member of the firm. How much was the rent in your first office?

The rent I paid to the Southern Building Society in 1964 was R30 a month. Today the firm occupies a floor in a new building in Umhlanga Ridge. What was it about Jeremy Yeats that appealed to you when he