He had me travel up to Welbeck for a meeting where he told me all about his tunnelling plans. In some shape or form he had already worked out in his head what he wanted – he always had quite firm ideas – though he never mentioned to me what purpose they were to serve. Well, to be honest, tunnels weren’t what we were normally about and, when the opportunity arose, I told the Duke as much. Garden landscaping, the occasional lake or ha-ha was much more our line. The previous year we had done a little something at the back of His Grace’s London residence which, I was informed at that first meeting, had pleased him very much. As I recall, he was greatly taken with the wrought-iron fancywork on the frame of a sunk glass walkway. And so, right from the start, he was eager to impress on me the notion that my company was right for the job. I remember how he had with him a small wooden box full of sketches which he emptied out onto the table. All sorts of drawings and diagrams, all jumbled up together.
What do You think about The Underground Man (2010)?
