WHEN James Packer first met his London business partner, Damian Aspinall, the two men knew of each other only through their fathers, who were friends.
Both fathers were larger than life, superbly wealthy tycoons with a voracious taste for chance; Packer senior was notorious in London for his aggressive style and casino boss John Aspinall's collection of exotic animals (he raised Damian in the company of silverback gorillas) had made him a national figure of fascination.
Both sons, therefore, were persons of intense interest to London society in the early 1990s, when they reached manhood.
"We met at a dinner in London to welcome the new boy," was Damian Aspinall's subsequent recollection of their introduction.
"An English twat who had never met Jamie before said, 'I would like to propose a toast to Jamie, not because of who you are and how much you've got, but because you are a true friend'," he recalls. Everyone else around the table rose except Aspinall, who has inherited his now-deceased father's bluntness.
"I am not your friend," he declared. "I have never met you. I only came here because of who you are, what you've got and how much I can get out of you."
Packer junior's response was to grasp Aspinall's hand, telling him he was "the only genuine one here".
A profitable friendship was born and now the pair are poised to open a string of high-end casinos across Britain, taking advantage of the British Government's recent decision to license a new generation of gaming houses.
The Packer behemoth Consolidated Press Holdings co-owns with Aspinall the fledgling casino company Aspers, which has just opened a lush new casino at Newcastle
Damian Aspinall, now 45, did badly at school and was handed an air ticket to Australia at the age of 16, but built his own empire without help from his father and had made his first million in property dealing before the age of 30.
In James Packer, he recognised another product of stern fathering.
"Jamie is my best friend,' said Aspinall in 2000, in a rare interview upon the death of his father.
"(He's) the only son of that lot that I am close to. I have met so many sons like that and they are useless."
That's not to say that life for the junior tycoons has been all work and no play.
During the 1990s, James was a regular visitor to London and his dalliances included one with Sylvester Stallone's girlfriend Jennifer Flavin.
Damian's girlfriends included Naomi Campbell and the glamorous Petrina Khashoggi.
In 1999, Damian was best man at James Packer's wedding to Jodie Meares.
Oddly enough, his date to that event was Erica Baxter, now a fixture at James's side.
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