Another past director, Henry Ridley, from Norfolk (known as “Mad” Ridley), is remembered as the father of the rubber industry: he was mad for rubber, hence his nickname. He became director 11 years after the first seedlings arrived from Kew and, successful in his experiments with rubber cultivation, convinced planters across Malaya to adopt his methods. This led that country, now known as Malaysia, to become the world's number one producer of natural rubber.