Our warmest congratulations to Peter ‘Hoover’ Higgins, who has been awarded an OBE in in the King’s New Year Honours List in recognition of his services to commerce, to entrepreneurship, and to education.
Peter, who studied Classics at Jesus College from 1981-85, played for the LXs and was their Joint Secretary for the 1984-85 season. He kept playing rugby after university, and decided to venture into entrepreneurship aged 26, when he suffered a serious injury while representing Richmond. Alongside Nick Wheeler, ‘Hoover’ as he is known at CURUFC, became co-founder of the British fine menswear company Charles Tyrwhitt. In addition to his work at Charles Tyrwhitt, he has been behind some of Britain’s most successful retailers, including a role as Chairman of Cath Kidston and Joe Brown. He is currently the Director of Charles Tyrwhitt, and Chairman of the food poverty charity Mary’s Meals, and continues to generously support CURUFC through sponsorship.