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AFTER being gently told by close family he was working too hard and should find a hobby, many a man might have taken up gardening, an evening class or signed up to the local gym.
For one businessman, however, that moment was the start of a multi-million-pound sideline that led to him becoming a world authority on stamps. Alan Holyoake, who made his fortune in the fish business, has become one of the world's most successful stamp collectors, currently honoured at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC for his extraordinary discovery of the world's first official stamp.
His lightbulb moment came while on a 2001 business flight to Geneva. He picked up his Daily Telegraph, spotted an article about the Queen selling parts of her stamp collection, and resolved to make it his hobby.
"I've got three boys, and...