Page 11 - James Caan - The Real Deal

Chapter 1

Brick Lane (1960–1971)

‘ My father taught me that successful business is not about

good transactions, it’s about good relationships. There are
few things anyone has ever said to me that have had more of

an impact than that. ’

was born nazim khan in Lahore in Pakistan. I came to Britain
I in 1962, when I was two years old, and my earliest memories
are of our home just off Brick Lane, in the East End of London. It
was a pretty, big Victorian terraced house with four storeys: on the
top floor was my dad’s workshop; then me and my parents and my
brother and sister took up the next two floors, and a friend of my
dad’s lived on the ground floor to help out with the rent. There
was always something going on, and whether it was my dad’s
customers visiting or one of our friends asking if we could go out
and play, the front door was in constant use.
Outside was pretty noisy, too. In those days the area was
dominated by the rag trade, and the noise of the machines in the
garment factories was constant. However, it was nothing com-
pared to the sounds of the Sunday market. Once a week, the streets
all around our house were swamped by traders selling everything
from vegetables and linen to brassware and radios. It was an
exciting place to live, and a terrific place to be a kid.

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