George Kieffer is believed to be the only Luxembourger ever to be elected Warden of a Livery Company. He had learnt three languages before tackling English, and came here in 1969 on a British Council Scholarship to read English at Exeter University.
He found his métier in banking in the City and developed an enduring passion for the City of London, Europe ’s primary financial centre, and in truth Europe ’s only global city. He left the City in 1987 to work in commerce with companies in difficulties before establishing the European headquarters of Sega Enterprises Ltd of Japan in London as Deputy Chairman.
In 1995 he became Managing Director of the IBP Group of Companies working on a series of aerospace technology transfer programmes between Russia and the Department of Defense of the US. He is a partner in a restaurant chain, which includes Simpsons of Cornhill, established in 1757 in Ball Court , still occupying the same premises and conceivably still employing some of the original staff. He is Deputy Chairman of the East of England Development Agency and, as the former Chairman of East of England International, he continues to be a keen promoter of international trade and inward investment links with India.
In 1994 he was a co-producer on a 10 hour television documentary series Russia’s War - Blood Upon the Snow, the definitive story of Russia ’s epic struggle, with hitherto secret archives being made available under a decree from President Yeltsin.
His first ambition had been to fly fast jets in the Royal Air Force but, debarred by eyesight, he was commissioned as a volunteer into the Royal Observer Corps, No 11 Group, RAF Strike Command serving his time 100 ft underground in a bunker waiting for the big bang.
He served for 20 years as Secretary of the Luxembourg Society, an organisation created by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in the dark days of 1942, for which HRH The Grand-Duke of Luxembourg appointed him a Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Couronne de Chêne in 1990.
He was introduced to the Turners by the late Lt Col Francis Griffin OBE, his great-uncle by marriage and a Liveryman of the Turners.
He enjoys reading and reviews books on intelligence and military history for the Royal United Services Institute. He is Chairman of the Second World War Experience Centre in Leeds, where his late father’s wartime papers are lodged. He is a keen enthusiast of opera – particularly Puccini and Mussorgsky as well as Gilbert and Sullivan – and indulges more lethal hobbies as a tolerably competent sporting gun (invitations welcome!).
George and Maureen have two children, a daughter, Alexandra, who is a solicitor with a firm of City lawyers and a son, William, a Freeman of the Company, who is about to be let loose as a surgeon on the unsuspecting clients of the NHS.
George is a member of the City Livery Club and the Special Forces Club.