Robert Skepper

Robert Skepper attended Stowe School before going to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1957, from where he graduated in history. He then worked in the City (of London) before five years in France and Belgium working in the rubber industry. In 1973, however, Skepper and his wife Hannah established the Heritage Coast Stud in Suffolk, where they bred thoroughbred racehorses and top class show jumpers, before Skepper returned to the City in 1985. Skepper published several books including Tackle Skiing This Way, Munich: the Price of Appeasement and, in 2011, 50 years after his first book, A Decade of Stockmarket Turmoil 2000 - 2010: And How to Profit from it.

Aside from his success as a businessman and horse breeder, Skepper was a leading alpine skier in the 1950s and 60s. He won the British junior title at the age of 16 and upon going up to Cambridge captained the university skiing team. In 1957 he won the Kandahar Club slalom race at Gstaad with his brother Edmund in second place. Two years later, Skepper pipped Nigel Gardner to win the coveted Roberts of Kandahar Race. A few months later, Skepper was a member of the Great Britain team at the 1960 Squaw Valley Olympics, where he finished 43rd out of 63 starters in the downhill event.

Skepper and his wife endured personal tragedy in 1996 when their 19-year-old daughter Georgina died in Namibia after contracting malaria. There could have been further tragedy three years later when Skepper and his children Johnnie and Jane were trapped at the bottom of 200 foot gully after stopping to help an injured skier at Kloisters. They were eventually winched to safety by a helicopter during a rescue masterminded by Royal Ski Guide Clair Southwell, who was skiing with the then Prince of Wales (now King Charles III) and five-year-old Prince Harry at the time. Skepper’s younger sister Gillian was married to a member of the Cadbury chocolate dynasty, Adrian Cadbury, a fellow alpine skier and 1952 Olympic rower.