Back in the very early 1970s I had the startling and portentous coincidence of being interviewed on the same afternoon by Richard Rogers for a place in his fledgling practice and also for a place at the AA, where he was a unit master.

Having had a memorable job interview at his Aybrook Street office in Marylebone, he stuffed me into a Mini which he drove to 36 Bedford Square, with some difficulty and heart-stopping co-ordination as his accelerator leg was in plaster from a skiing breakage.

He told me that if he won a competition in Paris then I would be able to join the firm. I was also accepted into the AA.

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