22/04/2026
A mentor and admired friend says wisely, some stories are not ours to share.
But I feel this story should be shared.
Recently, in fact only today I stood at a funeral where only two people came.
On paper, it might have looked as though nobody was there.
But everybody was there.
Because those two women were everything to that man.
His whole world, in many ways.
And what a life he had lived.
To many, he was just a face in a pub. A quiet regular. A man people passed, nodded to, perhaps thought they understood.
But behind that face was a story almost nobody knew.
A man more intelligent than 97% of people in the country.
Read that again.
Ninety seven percent.
A member of Mensa.A brilliant chemist.An educator.A mind still reciting formulas to the very end.
And before many ever knew him as the man at the bar… he had raced motorcycles at the highest level.
A champion road racer.
Team Yamaha.
The Isle of Man Grand Prix.
In fact, you can still buy prints of him racing.
Think about that.
A man whose image can still be found flying over tarmac on one of the most dangerous circuits in the world… ended up, to most, known only as a familiar face in a pub.
How does that happen?
How many extraordinary lives are hidden in plain sight?
How many people do we reduce to what we first see?
And isn’t that the lesson?
Behind every face, there is a story.
And sometimes… an astonishing one.
The regular in the corner might be a genius.
The prickly old fella at the bar might have lived ten lives before you met him.
The person you almost overlook may be carrying a history that would leave you speechless.
We are too quick to mistake appearances for truth.
But if you take the time to look again… listen longer… care a little more…
You may find a whole universe in someone you almost passed by.
At the close of that service, I looked at those two women and said:
It may look like no one is here today… but for him, you were everything.
And I meant it.
Because life is never measured in quantity.
Only quality.
Not by how many stand at the end… but by who stayed.
And perhaps that is worth remembering.
The people in your life are everything.
Tell them.
Value them.
And when someone is gone… keep saying their name.
Tell their stories.
Tell people about the genius down the pub nobody knew.
Tell people about the road racer.
Tell people about the man who amazed you once you looked beyond the surface.
Because we die twice.
The first time when we stop breathing.
The second… the very last time somebody says our name.
So keep saying the names.
Behind every face… there is a story.
Go find one.
Today I had the orvilage of telling the story of
Paul Armson
A man to be admired if only we knew ….
