DIARY: Stories we could tell ... Ties that bind twins separated at birth

<p>What do Ben Holgate, the new Hong Kong head of 141, and Tim </p><p>Balbirnie, MD of AMI Hong Kong, have in common? Plenty. Dig a little </p><p>into their backgrounds and you'd swear the pair had been separated at </p><p>birth. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Tim is an Irishman who has lived and worked all over the world. Ditto </p><p>for Ben, who's from England. But it's their fashion sense - outside of </p><p>their daily business suits - which is proof of the links that bind. Tim </p><p>is into purple shirts and red Converse sneakers. His favourite though is </p><p>a well-worn Bob Marley T-shirt in all its psychedelic glory. He also has </p><p>a prized pair of cowboy boots, and has been praying that Butch Cassidy </p><p>and the Sundance Kid's sartorial style will soon make a comeback. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Ben, meanwhile, has similar oddities in his closet - a buck-skin, </p><p>thonged jacket. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>And well you may ask why. In the 1970s, while in college, young Ben </p><p>played keyboard in a band called A Certain Ambivalence. But because the </p><p>band's greatest claim to fame was that it opened for a Stranglers </p><p>Concert in Lancaster in 1979, he wisely threw in the thonged jacket and </p><p>went into advertising. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Today, he can be seen relaxing at home in Aussie surf-type gear. But the </p><p>surfer look is purely for show. Ben's too wary to surf in Hong Kong's </p><p>murky waters. Here's hoping the pair connect. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>