MANNWEST - Key Persons

F.A. Hayek, on the other hand, was a bit like Leonard Read - 50/50. 50% was the economics / philosophy and the other 50% was his strategic advice. Hundreds of people wrote to Hayek just to get guidance on what they should be doing to be more effective. Sir Antony Fisher was one example and a perfect one. He came back as a war-time fighter pilot hero from WWII. He came back and witnessed England in terrible shape. Antony had read Hayek's condensed version of The Road to Serfdom and wanted to go into politics. He knew he had to firstly meet with Hayek and organised to meet him at the London School of Economics where he told Hayek he wanted to go into politics. Hayek advised him not to go into politics, "you will just become like all the other politicians and in the end the results will not be what your goals are. Instead go and start a Think Tank, get people together like yourself. Generate a lot of ideas. Always remember politicians are not leaders, they are followers. You must get the public to start accepting these ideas, then the politicians will follow those ideas because they think there are votes in it." However, he suggested Antony Fisher, did not proceed with that plan immediately but make some money first, because you cannot achieve anything unless you have enough money to finance it. So, Fisher looked at going with the chicken business and ultimately became the biggest chicken farmer in England - Buxted Chicken. Fisher, an amazing man, is father to Linda Whetstone, our current Mont Pelerin Society President. Just one hell of a man. On his chicken journey he went to America where he discovered the chickens were better. Bigger, with twice as much meat on them and a different breed of chicken. The breed that existed in England was scrawny in comparison because they were all controlled by government boards - there was no competition. He then attempted to get permission to bring back some of these chickens to breed in England. However, he could not get permission. The bureaucracy again. They had a Government Egg Board. So around about a week or two before Easter, Fisher went to America, got half a suitcase of fertilised eggs, wrapped them all up so that they looked like Easter eggs, brought them back in his bag, got them through Customs and started breeding the super chickens and became the biggest chicken producer in the U.K. Then, with that capital he established the IEA and then the Manhattan Institute and then the Pacific Institute. He was populating the world with Think Tanks, and he then started the Atlas Network. What a story! And all from Hayek's advice. The power of a single person giving the right advice is immeasurable.

Job Titles:

• Founder of the Foundation for Economic Education

Linda Whetstone was Chairman of Network for a Free Society and a member of the boards of the Institute of Economic Affairs, Atlas Economic Research Foundation, Mont Pelerin Society, Istanbul Network for Liberty, and of course, British Dressage.