Page 180 - James Caan - The Real Deal

The Real Deal

importance is attached to carrying on the family name, and, now
that I had become successful, the problem was compounded. The
name that got written about in the recruitment press wasn’t his
name. He was proud of me, but he clearly wasn’t proud of my
choice of name.
I was a bit ashamed that I hadn’t thought about how he would
feel. The decision to change my name officially had been one of
convenience. All my credit cards had been in the name of Caan, as
were all my assets, and professionally it was how I was known. It
was only ever a problem when I needed to use my passport as I’d
check into a hotel as Nazim Khan and pay as James Caan. It
looked a bit dodgy, so I decided to tidy up what I saw as a small
administrative problem with a short legal declaration. I hadn’t
given it any more thought until that conversation with my father.
I realised that I’d been insensitive and really felt I had let him
down. It was an absolutely awful moment, and, if I’m being
completely honest, I did toy with the idea that maybe it was
something I shouldn’t have done. But it was too late to go back:
my wife knew me as James, my kids knew that was my name, and
in the industry I worked in James Caan was a name people
recognised.
In recent years a couple of people have accused me of changing
my name to fit into British society. I tell them that changing your
name doesn’t help you integrate: it’s not what you’re called, it’s
what you do and who you are that make a difference.
Getting cheques for £22,000 was an indication of how well the
company was growing. When I’d started the business, our average
fee was £5 or £6k. The economic boom had seen wages skyrocket,
and we were now getting 25 per cent of much bigger salaries. That
meant I could still afford to help out staff who were struggling to
get a deposit together or needed cash for an emergency, but the
problem with being that kind of boss was that I was seen as a soft
touch. People knew I was pretty laid-back; and as the expenses

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