In 1995, when the Soho theatre was potentially homeless, we were getting desperate and thought we had found a building owned by the banking group Nomura. I was the theatre’s artistic director and sent a begging letter to its chairman Sir Douglas Wass, who was kind enough to meet us. Although an extremely generous man, sadly it was not in his power to just give it to us. But he did join our board and was very much part of the team responsible for buying and building what became the Soho theatre in Dean Street. He was always a real gentleman.
