I must-ache you a question! Chatting to Captain Fawcett's founder

Richie Finney invites us to his museum in King's Lynn to talk about his grooming brand - known for its vintage-inspired products and gentlemanly charm

I meet Richie at his Marvellous Barbershop Museum, a treasure trove of all things relating to barbering. The space mirrors him in a way - it’s fun, full of curiosities and interesting stories.

He tells me his company, named after the Edwardian explorer Captain Fawcett, came about by accident.

“I was in the movie industry, my job was a boom operator - to get the mic as close to the actor as possible. I always made my own moustache wax, for myself, in my kitchen in a baked bean tin.

“And I met my wife who’s a well known hair and make up artist, and one day my wife said can I take some of your moustache wax to work, because the stuff we’ve got is rubbish.

“So I bought a 100 empty jars on eBay, and to this day it is virtually on every movie set.”

It is now a luxury men's grooming brand - with more than 200 products sold in 48 countries. The reason for its success? Apart from the products themselves and a boom in male grooming - it is Richie’s passion for it all.

And it’s catching. As we walk around he points to various artefacts and brings them to life. Old barber chairs, razors dating back to 1650, it (almost) makes me wish I were a man.

“My passion regarding all the shaving materials - it’s something that it doesn’t matter who you are, whether you’re the richest man in the world or the poorest man in the world, at some point you’ve had a hair cut and at a certain age you will have had a shave.

“I remember as a child going into the bathroom, with absolutely no facial hair, you know you take your father’s razor out and you put some soap on your face and you kind of pretend.”

And this Emporium, which is free to visit, is a space he wants to share with everyone.

“I can imagine some business person coming in and saying well you don’t need this and you don’t need that, the whole business could be run in a completely different way. But it wouldn’t float my boat, because this is not about the bottom line, this is about the journey.”

It isn’t just a museum, it’s the business - literally. Richie takes me through various doors where we meet his team, some are making the beard wax, others are packaging items up.

He stops to chat, he knows their names, you can see how much this company and the people who’re part of it mean to him. And that’s not all.

“I do think you should give back, my other great passion is motorcycles, and these other 3 guys were thinking about doing a ride.

“We pooled together and 9 years ago we set up Barbersride and we’ve been all around the country, we’ve raised more than 200 thousand pounds for Make A Wish.”

So, how to end an interview with someone who has an MBE - whose brand has won multiple awards, who’s helped raise hundreds of thousands for charity? Well, I was curious to know if he’d ever shave his beard.

“That’s an interesting question. I don’t know, it’s so much of me - and I’d be a bit concerned as I’m getting older I’m not sure how many chins would be there! So probably no, because I think I might be shocked.”