My friend Michael Holiday, who has died aged 92, left school with no qualifications but forged an international career in hotel, facility and events management that spanned 44 years. From 1985 to 1995 he was house manager at Cliveden House in Buckinghamshire.
Born in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, Michael was the son of Wilfred Holiday, a director at Tate and Lyle, and Hilda (nee Day), a housewife. He went to Felsted school in the county, but his education was curtailed when he was evacuated to Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, during the second world war. Childhood holidays were spent at a guesthouse in Clacton-on-Sea, where he made a lifelong friendship with the actor Penelope Keith, whose mother organised children’s entertainment in the resort.
