Carl Cookson

After starting and developing several successful business enterprises spanning back to the late 1970s, in August 2005 Carl and his brother Lawrence agreed the sale of their “Swift Rent A Car Limited” business to a FTSE 350 PLC for over £25 million
Following the disposal of the business, Carl and Lawrence decided to invest their capital in commercial property. They have since achieved strong capital appreciation and upwardly growing yields and are continuing to invest and expand their position within this sector.

Carl has recently invested time and funds into charitable work such as the demining of Cambodia charity “Find A Better Way” started by Sir Bobby Charlton, where Carl joined as the treasurer. Under his stewardship, the charity received donations and pledges in excess of £15 million and has invested in seven landmine detection and characterisation projects at various universities, as well as funding humanitarianand educational activities and establishing an £8 million Centre for International Research for the Clearanceof Landmines and Explosives at Manchester University.

Carl said: “My dad played a big part in my interest of the medieval era. He would tell me stories about how the people in the medieval age would have lived, both the good and the bad things that people had to experience. He was a captivating storyteller and he always painted a very vivid and real picture in my mind.

In particular he would explain how difficult, dangerous and tough it would have been if you were born into peasantry. When I was a young boy all my mates and I loved the stories of King Arthur and the knights of the round table, Robin Hood and the Three Musketeers. We watched them all on our black and white TVs. We just couldn’t get enough of it. I was always interested in art and paintings. The Pre-Raphaelite painters held a special attraction to me, this was due to the fact that their focus was concerned with venerating the great