,My name is Roger P and Invaluable Things has been created in order to present the huge collection of memorabilia that I have acquired over the years.
Over the years I have been lucky enough to be able to play golf in many PGA Tour Pro-Ams in the USA, most notably at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on many occasions and was a regular invitee of the Bobby Robson charity golf events in Portugal where many famous sporting stars and celebrities play and contribute items for charity auctions. I was also invited to many of the prestigious “Make a Wish” charity balls, where rare and valuable items were auctioned by Lord Jeffrey Archer and procured by me.
I also became a keen collector of first edition books over the years; some of which were acquired through book dealers but many more obtained by being fortunate enough to be invited to book launches; including the midnight book launch of the JK Rowlings’ Harry Potter book- and also Paul McCartneys’ book launch at Waterstones!
I have been privileged to also travel extensively with the Sky Sports team to cover the Ryder Cup , US Open Golf and other high profile tournaments from the inside ropes, in conjunction with close friend and former Ryder Cup winner Ronan Rafferty who in conjunction with Euan Murray and Butch Harman ( Tigers’ former coach ) formed part of Sky’s commentary team for many years and was blessed to meet and hang out with the great man on several occasions.
Moreover I was well connected with people who worked at VIP Nation, who corporately entertained me, leading to backstage experiences and ‘meet and greets’ with some of the biggest names in the music industry including Black Sabbath, Ariana Grande and Bruno Mars, at some of the biggest music venues in the UK.
The last ten years of my life have been spent living in Miami where I am a member of the Turnberry Isle Country Club where, amongst others, Michael Jordan is a member and stars such as Paul McCartney and Roger Waters hang out and play. The club also hosts many of the NFL teams when they come to Miami to play the Miami Dolphins.
As I am sure you can imagine I now have a lot of space taken up with this amazing memorabilia and feel that the time is right now to allow others to acquire some of these “Invaluable Things” , which is why I have created this website. All of the items on this website are fully authenticated, and you can be sure that the provenance is sound.
Sadly, many of the photographs that I took over the years of my experiences have been lost as in those days photographs were not stored on iPhones! However, I have been able to find quite a lot of items which are at least able to show that I was there! Please see below a selection of what I was able to find.
The 2000 United States PGA Championship was held at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, and I was fortunate enough through my contacts with Sky Sports to be “inside the ropes” with my International TV Pass, as you see here.
Being invited many times to the Arnold Palmer Invitational Pro-Am in Orlando, Florida, I was fortunate enough to meet the “great man” on many occasions and Arnold kindly signed this photo for me in person.
Due to my connections in the business world, Europcar, the international car rental company, invited me to the 1998 World Cup Final in Paris where France beat Brazil 3-0. This invitation gave me access to an extraordinary amount of sporting greats, footballers and other stars who were corporately entertained on that amazing day for France.
This was the last time that I ever saw my friend Ayrton Senna, the incomparable Formula 1 star. This was taken as he came out of his trailer at the European Grand Prix at Donington Park where in the opinion of most motor racing pundits, Ayrton achieved what is considered to be the greatest race lap in F1 history. Sadly, within a year of me taking this photo, Ayrton passed away on the 1st May 1994.
As part of my ongoing involvement in several charities I was fortunate enough to be invited to 10 Downing Street by Samantha Cameron, wife of Prime Minister David Cameron, for a reception in conjunction with several other business leaders and many celebrities who support this great cause.
The Arnold Palmer Invitational provide their sponsors and competitors in the Pro-Am with a special license plate to gain access and parking in the inner sanctum of the Bay Hill Club and Lodge during the tournament. This is one of many I was given.
The 2002 United States PGA Championship was held at the Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota, and I was fortunate enough through my contacts with Sky Sports to be “inside the ropes” with my International TV pass and media armband as seen here.
The Arnold Palmer Invitational provide their sponsors and competitors in the Pro-Am with a special license plate to gain access and parking in the inner sanctum for the Bay Hill Club and Lodge during the tournament. This is another of many I was given.
Being a close friend with Butch Harmon, Tiger Wood’s former coach; Butch kindly got Tiger to sign this photo celebrating his win in the 2000 Open Championship at St Andrews. Over the years through this connection I was lucky enough to meet Tiger and one of the items on this site features an item that Tiger kindly signed for me personally.
This photo of Alain Prost was taken by me “up close and personal” at the European Grand Prix in 1993 in the “paddock”.
This photo pf Alain Prost’s lap time was taken by me during “testing”, facilitated by my connections with Ayrton Senna.
On the inside of the Formula 1 world, this is my paddock club pass for the Belgium Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.