Neil Forster

A former head boy at Hurstpierpoint College public school in West Sussex, Neil Forster did his mandatary National Service, in the Royal Navy, after college before going to Pembroke College, Cambridge, to read economics and law. At university he was a fine sportsman and won a hockey Blue and represented Pembroke at both rugby and tennis. Forster was at university when he won the first of his 15 England hockey caps in 1951. He was in the Great Britain squad that finished fourth at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

Upon leaving Cambridge, Forster went on to become one of the most influential men in British shipping and aviation in the 1970s and 80s. He had joined the Clan Line of ships in 1952 and went on to become either the chairman and/or director of 41 companies involved with shipping, ship brokering, aviation, and other tourism-related businesses. Forster was appointed the managing director of the rapidly growing British and commonwealth Shipping Company, which was under the control of their Clan Line owners. In his later years, Forster was a keen gardener and golfer.