I knew Paul in 1981 having "bumped into" him while out cycling between Birmingham and Redditch. Of course I knew who he was and we struck up a converation on our bikes. I asked him to slow down a bit for obvious reasons, we had a brief chat, and I recall him telling me about being stopped by a police officer while he was en route to setting the Land's End to John O'Groats record. Also, he told me that it took about 3 months to recover from achieving the record. I was amd still am impressed. We exchanged telephone numbers and I met him a couple more times, once I caught the tail end end of him while he was out training with Peter Roger, after about 15 miles, he turrned to me and said "David, you should turn back now". It was a miserable journey from Stratford to Bromsgrove as their pace was quite a bit faster than I was capable of. I had burnt out.. The last time we met, I had started at Warwick University and asked him if he would give a celebrity presentation for the uni cycling club. He really was funny, interesting and left everyone in awe of Eddy Mercyx, whose legendary prowess Paul humbly decribed from blistering personal experience how Eddy was a force of nature. Not once did he proclaim to be a champion, this was a mark of the man himself. Paul went down really well. I lost touch due to travel and dare I say, carelessness. Fond memories of a generous and warm person whose passing I only came to hear about some 2 years ago. Shocked and saddened, Paul is missed by all of those he touched. David Thatcher.