BEHIND the mask of a 1,000-year-old tradition lies a fascinating mix of entrepreneur, sportsman and romantic novelist.

As a man whose family home was Gawsworth Hall, near Macclesfield, Cheshire's High Sheriff, John Richards, has embraced his royal appointment wholeheartedly, one which is steeped in grandeur and history dating back to Saxon times.

The son of tea and coffee tycoon Raymond Richards, John studied geography at Oxford University where he was a prolific member of their rowing team.

His father bought Gawsworth Hall in the sixties and it was left to John and his brother Tim some years later.

He sold out to his sibling, who still owns it today, and moved to the nearby and assuredly not-unspectacular Gawsworth Court, where he lives a busy life which has seen him mingling with royalty and Hollywood film stars.

He is, he says, determined to make the High Sheriff tradition relevant to today's society during his year in office and leave a lasting legacy for his predecessors.

"My overall aim is to bring people together for the good of Cheshire. The role of high sheriff really is what you make it and because it is the Queen's Gold Jubilee year I intend to make it a special one.

"The greatest thing in the world a High Sheriff has to have is an 'IQ' - not intelligence quotient as you might expect, but 'imagination quotient'.

John says his priority is to highlight the issues which he believes matter to the people of Cheshire.

His High Sheriff 'brief' may require him to 'ensure the well-being and protection of Her Majesty's High Court judges', execute High Court writs and 'proclaim the accession of a new Sovereign'. But that has not stopped him working hard to raise funds for Crimebeat, a Cheshire-based charity which works on keeping youngsters away from crime.

Nor have his formal duties kept him from organising the first Macclesfield half marathon which generated thousands of pounds for Macmillan Cancer Care and a fun run in Gawsworth to help out the local church and school.

His grave concerns over the closure of the West Coast mainline prompted him to contact rail chiefs who have now agreed to hold a forum in Manchester to brief commuters on the upgrade project.

"People are not really aware of what a high sheriff does but I am doing my utmost to make the role relevant to today's society. It is not merely ceremonial and I intend to change things for the better."

In his private life John's passion for horses and four-in-hand carriage driving - for which he has won several international championships - gained him exclusive access to the royal enclosure and he counts fellow carriage driving enthusiast Prince Philip among his circle.

His publishing company produced the Prince's book on the subject and when, in the mid nineties, he took the Royal Windsor Horse Show to Hollywood fellow enthusiasts lovers Michael Douglas and Bo Derek welcomed him with open arms. In fact one American state in particular took John to its heart.

While he toured the country with a series of equine lectures, Texas developed a deep-seated attachment to the quintessential Englishman and made him an honorary Texan.

He later became director of their Southern National Bank. His own family are not without their own royal connections.

His wife Helena is the daughter of a Russian countess who fled from the Bolsheviks' grip during the Russian Revolution - a background which inspired John to pen his novel, The Gods of Fortune - an epic romance set in St Petersburg, England and America.

Indeed Helena's father, Gordon Hewlett-Johnson, was an eminent sportsman, winning a Winter Olympic gold medal with the British ice hockey team at the controversial 1936 games.

It is an astounding backdrop to the life of a man who, above all, classes himself is an entrepreneur. He brokered a deal over the sale of Prestwick International Airport in Glasgow and still has a share in the ownership.

Among his more daring business ventures, he headed a £308m consortium to keep Rolls Royce and Bentley British, eventually losing out to BMW.

It is with sadness he recalls the affair.

"I am a great believer in things being British," he said. "It was unfortunate we lost out to the might of the German car industry but at least we were British and had a jolly good go."

But this is a man not to be beaten and his latest enterprise is fuelled by a desire to inject life into the British car industry once more.

John is ambitiously engrossed in a bid to develop a seven litre, four-door British sports car and he has some of the top men in the industry on the job. Codenamed 'Project Zircon' John believes he could have a prototype within the next 12 months.

"We have Richard Williams as the chief engineer and Professor Ken Greenley who designed the Bentley Continental. The main thing is we are doing something for Britain. Being high sheriff is one of the most British things you can do and I am a terrible patriot. I do believe we have to have a British car and we are very close."

As for the name 'Zircon' John says he could not help associating his other great passion with the project - horses.

"Zircon was my horse, one of the most famous in country in his day. He was fast, surefooted, reliable and had great style, everything you expect from a Great British car."