Federico Rodriguez: The waiter who bought the hotel

After stepping off the boat from Spain, Federico Rodriguez had to draw on all his resources to open the popular Blyth Hotel.

In 1966, aged 23, Federico Rodriguez stepped off the ferry from Spain knowing that back in Granada his mother and three younger siblings all depended on him. He had nothing but a small wooden suitcase, £3, and the name of a contact in Kent who could get him a job.

His contact found him work as a waiter at the prestigious Bromley Court Hotel in south London. Desperate not to stay a waiter for long, he saved every penny. In 1973, he bought a lease for £11,000 and opened The Majorca restaurant nearby.

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Tim graduated with a history degree from Cambridge University in 1989 and, after a year of travelling, joined the financial services firm Ernst and Young in 1990, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1994.

He then moved into financial markets training, designing and running a variety of courses at graduate level and beyond for a range of organisations including the Securities and Investment Institute and UBS. He joined MoneyWeek in 2007.