23 OCTOBER 1993, Page 25

Subsidence policy

MY SAINTED forerunner Nicholas Dav- enport met a duke in Brooks's Club who asked him what he did. 'Well', said Nicholas, 'I'm on the board of an insurance company.' Funny thing, so am I."Which one?' "Pon my soul, I can't remember'. There is still something arbitrary about these appointments. Witness Allan Gormly, clambering from the wreckage of Trafalgar House to become chairman of Royal Insur- ance. It is startling to think that his new company has, over the last few years, got through more money than his old one.