In June 1967, at the age of 23, I graduated from Hong Kong Technical College, with a Diploma in Textiles. Then I worked in a spinning mill. In September of the same year, my father asked me to come to the UK, for further studies. In October, I came to Leicester University, to study knitting technology, because knitting was fashionable in the 1960s.

I graduated with an Higher National Diploma in Knitting in 1969, and came up to Leeds to study for a Post Graduate Diploma in Textiles, from Leeds University. I didn’t finish the course, but I got a job as an assistant production controller at Nunroyd Mill, Guiseley. The company was called West Riding Fabrics, a subsidiary of PG Field Coats for a good part of the 1970s.