“Back in the 1980s, I came to the conclusion that my life would be enhanced with the acquisition of a Parker Knoll Recliner. When I contacted Parker Knoll in High Wycombe, I discovered that these chairs were made to order. I opted for black leather and a while later I received a letter inviting me to the High Wycombe factory to choose “my hide”. Clearly this was to be a Rolls-Royce of a chair, costing some £650. After we moved to Bristol with the chair, my wife’s grandmother, a sharp-tongued retired headmistress, came to stay and pronounced that I was “too young” to have my own chair. Our cats agreed, regularly practising sliding down behind me and pushing me out. My wife too disliked my habit of reclining in my chair and going to sleep. The chair was relegated to the back room. On moving back to Buckinghamshire, the chair found its way in to my study, where due to accumulated clutter a full recline was not possible. Liberated now to the sitting room it is available for occasional use (when the cars permit) and when I am fully awake. The chair has seen some (largely cat) heavy wear but still is as comfortable as when new and beautifully reclinable, a tribute to its workmanship. I am now of sufficiently mature years that grandma should not deny me having ‘My Chair'”

Submitted by Patrick Hogan, Downley