Have gavel, will travel! That mantra may be the driving force behind the success of TV property auctioneer Clive Emson.

Starting from earning just £1.50 a week as a junior estate agent, the entrepreneurial businessman now chairs a company spanning from Kent to Cornwall, taking in the Isle of Wight on the way.

And he largely puts his expanding empire down to his get-up-and-go where the business has taken him over the last 30 years.

The former King's School, Rochester, pupil left at the age of 16 with a couple of O-levels.

He disliked the discipline of the public school, hated sport and couldn't wait to leave.

And the feeling was mutual, he said: "It was not the best time of my life and I was a nightmare for them."

His childhood home was in Maidstone – about a mile away from his current head office in London Road – and he went to Maidstone Technical College when he took on more "useful" subjects such as commerce, book-keeping and economics.

Careers in law, accountancy and banking beckoned but Clive did not want to be stuck in an office so opted for estate agency.

He said: "It was more laid back and I enjoyed talking and meeting people."

He started at Geering and Colyer in Maidstone in 1968 and moved to various offices across the county including a Tonbridge branch where he met his wife Sue, who was the daughter of the boss at the time.

The couple have two children James, 47, who is now managing director and Rebecca, 50, whose husband Steve is involved in the IT side of the company. Sadly Sue, whom he was married to for 50 years, died two years ago.

He launched his first estate agency, Clive Emson and Co, in Hythe in 1973 until 1983 when he merged the business with the rapidly expanding Ward and Partners.

They were in turn taken over nationally by Prudential in 1986 but Clive says he became disillusioned and resigned as regional director three years later.

He took the plunge and opened up his own firm in Folkestone during the height of the recession and shortly afterwards took over a small industrial unit on Medway City Estate in Strood, where he quickly learned tough lessons on how to keep afloat.

Gradually his portfolio started to creep across southern England with James launching in Hastings and then Brighton.

They outgrew their auction venue at the Great Danes Hotel in Maidstone, now the Mercure Maidstone, when the Fire Brigade said they had to find somewhere bigger for safety reasons.

They relocated to the Kent County Showground at Detling where the massive Clive Emson Conference Centre is one of several halls where their six-weekly land and property sales are staged, although because of the pandemic they are still online.

It was the first property auctioneering house that was not backed by an estate agency.

He said: "I had to move on, find my own niche. I love selling and auctioneering is what I've done all my life."

Although Clive's career has been an outstanding success, he fell foul of one notable bad decision to open a branch in New York.

On ill advice he sent a team of 10 people over to Manhatten, but did not get the feedback from his advisor, a colleague of Donald Trump's.

After losing £250,000 in a matter of weeks, critics said he was left with "egg on his face".

But in true Emson style, he replied: "Well it's my egg and it's on my face."

His regular appearances on Homes Under the Hammer over the last 17 years have made him a household name to viewers of the popular daytime show.

He said: "There was a time when we were approached by TV companies every week.

"They wanted to put in a fake buyer, but how's that going to work? Once the hammer drops the property is yours."

He said the programme had served to make the auction house a more respected place to buy property and land saying "there was a perception that they were frequented by dealers and crooked people".

His team view every single of the potential thousands of lots before they make it into the catalogue.

"If we think the price wanted is wrong we will say so. We sell 85% of what goes into the catalogue. We are the fifth biggest in the country."

As well as the Maidstone HQ, there are offices in Exeter, Devon, Chelmsford, Essex, and Fareham, Hampshire.

Today, at the age of 75, he has taken a back seat to running the company preferring to spend time at his home in Monks Horton, near Sellindge where he loves to tinker with his vintage cars.

He has invested his money in a fleet of several classic British vehicles – including a vintage Bentley.

At one point for "a bit of fun" he launched Carmen Rollers, providing a chauffeur-driven service for weddings.

He is happy James has stepped into the role of running the company.

He said: "When he joined when he was 23, I said 'do this for you, not me'. Over all this time, we have never argued over business."

Apart from playing golf he also likes to get involved in charity work and is president of the Young Lives Foundation, which supports vulnerable and disadvantaged young people in Kent.

In 2019, he was made an MBE for his services which includes being a volunteer having one-to-one sessions with one child for three years.