He acquired a bedsit in Earls Court, west London, and his career in the insurance industry was under way.In 1964 the National Union of Students was approached by an insurance organisation proposing to act on behalf of the NUS as its official insurance brokers. In August the following year Endsleigh was born, taking its name from Endsleigh Street, where the NUS headquarters were sited.Naylor then masterminded a unique cost-efficient approach to the handling of insurance business while also developing a product range (including motor, personal possessions, life and travel insurance) specifically designed for students who, at that time, were finding it extremely difficult to get sound and competitive cover. He explained to them that if the student body represented such an attractive marketplace to another company, then clearly they should form an insurance organisation of their own. The executive adopted his proposition and, on Christmas Eve 1964, Geoffrey Martin, the NUS President, invited Naylor to set up the first ever student-owned insurance organisation in Britain. He always said that the advertisement was written specifically for him: he joined the Imperial Life Insurance Company of Canada in 1962 as a salesman. He also converted to Roman Catholicism.Pondering what to do next, he read a newspaper advertisement which was looking for graduates “who want to earn lots of money and have fun”.

He would reminisce about the splendour of the decorations he commissioned and it was said that the ball he organised was the finest the union had ever seen.Naylor followed his success as Social Secretary by becoming the President of the Student Union. However, in those days the position of Student Union President was not a sabbatical post and the time spent away from his studies, combined with a developing disillusionment with the Church of England, resulted in his failure to complete his degree. Naylor delighted in the responsibilities of the position, in particular the organising of the Annual Ball. He often referred to himself as Lampman Naylor, and was able to quote his roll number without hesitation.Throughout his formative years, Naylor had been deeply religious, at one time boycotting morning assembly at his school after informing his headmaster of the heretical nature of such occasions. It became his ambition to train for the Church of England ministry and in 1959 he went to Nottingham University to study Theology.

In his second year he became the General Secretary of the Christian Association, the largest association within the university.He was also elected Social Secretary to the Student Union. His early days were overshadowed by the Second World War and his primary school days spent outside London. On completing his secondary education at Selhurst Grammar School in 1954, he went to Paris and worked at the Abbe Pierre Community, helping to care for down-and-outs on the streets of the French capital. At the end of 1955 he returned to England for his National Service. He joined up as a non-combatant in the Royal Air Force, serving as a regular for three years in its medical corps.
Between 1958 and 1959, Naylor worked for the London Underground as a lampman, cleaning the wicks of the oil lamps on the front and rear of trains.

Mike Naylor was a charismatic figure within the insurance industry and a man of considerable intellect and aggressive business acumen. He founded Endsleigh Insurance in 1965 and expanded the company from its student roots into one of the largest retail insurance chains in Britain

Naylor was born in 1936 near Croydon, Surrey. Several important coloured diamonds, including a record price for a pink diamond at auction (1.3m) brought New York sales to pounds 18.7m, the sixth highest ever.The Latin American market is also proving extremely popular with buyers. Works sold by the IBM International Foundation helped to push the auction house’s Latin American sale total to pounds 7.9m..

Worldwide jewellery sales for the first half of 1995 increased 40 per cent to pounds 77m helped by one of the largest diamonds ever offered at auction in Geneva in May.The star of the season, a 100.1 carat D-colour internally flawless diamond sold for pounds 10.5m pounds 31.1m. Sales in Europe rose by 25 per cent and by 20 per cent in the US.Competition between bidders also warmed up the London market, where several pictures placed in the two day impressionist and modern art sale beat their reserve. The good news pushed Sotheby’s A shares 15p higher yesterday to 840p. Competitive bidding during the Spring sales in New York pushed the sale price for Picasso’s Portrait of a Fallen Angel to pounds 19m. International private collectors have returned to the fine art market with a vengeance, according to Sotheby’s, giving a fillip to a market which has been in the doldrums since 1990.