Chartered accountant David Brown started his career as an articled clerk earning £2 10 Shillings a week before joining the family civil engineering firm, East Anglian-based Biggs Wall and Co Ltd. David started his career with the family business from his grandfather’s home in Muswell Hill, North London, working with his father in a shared office before the business expanded into one of the largest private pipelaying companies in the country and moved its headquarters from London to the region where its contracts were carried out. He joined the IoD in 1970 as a young financial director of Biggs Wall, the year the UK went decimal, when you could buy the average house for £4975 and the average weekly wage was £32. In his 56-year career as a chartered accountant, David, who still practices from his St Neots based firm has seen significant events, from the eve of technology to IRA bombings at his London offices.