Notting Hill Supermannies

Ric Firth is the director of Supermannies, the male nanny agency that’s a hit with Notting Hill’s yummy mummies. Emily Paine meets him

Above: Supermanny Ric Firth, photographed by Caroline Molloy

‘I once accompanied a child in a private plane to a football match in Germany. Then back again on the same day. It was a birthday present from his parents. That’s pretty good, right?’I’d say that definitely counted as a job perk.

Ric Firth is talking to me about his life as a male nanny – or ‘manny’, as they’re affectionately known. He’s been in the business for eight years and clearly loves his job. I am fascinated. What goes on behind the doors of the rich and famous

of Notting Hill? And more importantly, what do Kensington dads think of the trend for mannies?

‘Well,’ Ric admits, ‘Jude Law has made our job a hell of a lot easier actually. After his little indiscretion with the female nanny, mothers are certainly more open to the idea! Once in a while you get a dad who’s obviously been forced into it by his wife, which is pretty uncomfortable, but in general we get more European-type families that are pretty open to the idea, with fathers that realise that if they can’t be there all the time, we might be the next best thing.’

Ric started off working as a teacher and found lots of mums were interested in having him help out with their kids at home as well. Eventually demand rose so much that it made sense to make it into a full-time business. Demand is still rising, and Ric is now vetting potential mannies to within an inch of their lives (out of 500 CVs he has seen in the last year, only 25 have made the grade).

‘Particularly in this area you get a lot of business people, so fathers are away a lot and often don’t get back till late. Kids grow up with a female housekeeper and a stay-at-home mum, and at seven or eight they crave the attention of a male. It’s natural for boys and girls, but especially for boys – they start to get a bit out of control, so then it’s good to have a male around to keep a lid on things.’

I try to persuade Ric to ‘dish the dirt’ on life for a Notting Hill manny but he is far too professional for that. However he does recall one child ‘who used to catch mosquitoes, save them and put them in his sandwich with the smoked salmon and cheese. He’d do it when the cook’s back was turned’. He was, Ric says, an ‘interesting lad’. Such discretion and diplomacy are the traits that have made Ric a hit with local parents.

Are there any situations he wouldn’t like to get into again?
‘I wouldn’t advise any of the guys in my agency to live in,’ he replies without hesitation. ‘My first live-in role was in New York, and I enjoyed it but I learned a lot about living arrangements. You’re on call for 24 hours – it doesn’t sound like a big deal but if the parents want to pop out for five minutes they call you to watch the kids...’

‘It was also in New York that I got bitten by the family dog – in the most unfortunate place. I wasn’t even going to tell the mum about it, but then I realised I had to go to hospital and I didn’t even know where to go. It was hilarious for everyone concerned. Except me.’ As they say – never work with children or animals.

info@supermannies.co.uk