Waking The Dead

“Many of his clients became friends, in particular Jeffrey Steiner, the billionaire head of the Fairchild Corporation, who had wandered into the original Pimlico Road shop one Saturday in 1988 and breezily dropped over £1 million. When staying at Steiner’s villa in the South of France, Hobbs claimed he was prevailed upon to supply a reefer to an elderly guest. The recipient collapsed after partaking and, it was assumed, had died. Panic ensued with Steiner insisting that the body be taken off his premises. But as Hobbs helped his host bundle the ‘cadaver’ into the boot of a car, it revived, to inquire, not unreasonably: ‘What the hell do you think you’re playing at?’”
 — It probably says something about the life of dodgy antique dealer John Hobbs that this anecdote from his obituary strikes one of the more sedate notes in the piece.