Wednesday 30 May 2012

Britain is still a country for and says "Happy Birthday" to an old book seller called Tim Waterstone

Tim Waterstone, whose bookshops bearing his name grace the high streets of Britain and whose retail chain employs 4,500 staff, is the largest specialist bookseller in Europe, with stores in Britain, Holland, Belgium and Ireland and the third largest bookseller in the world, is 73 years old today.


What you possibly didn't know about Tim, that he :


* was born at the start of the Second World War in 1939 in Glasgow, Scotland and

was educated at Tonbridge School in England and St. Catherine's College Cambridge where he read 'English',

* went to India and worked for a broking firm in Calcutta, returned to England to work as a marketing manager forAllied Breweries 1964–73 and then W.H.Smith 1973–81 before founding the bookselling chain 'Waterstone's' in 1982 and became the founder chairman of HMV Media Group in 1998, which merged with  Waterstone's and left the group in 2001.

* in the 1990's sat on the boards of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the London International Festival of Theatre, the Elgar Foundation, the British Library.

* is the co-founder of 'Bookaid', has sat on the 'Booker Prize' and is  the co-founder of the Management Committee, and acted as the Chairman Of Judges for the 'Prince’s Youth Business Trust Awards'.


 * is the Chancellor of Edinburgh Napier University, the 'Bishop's Nominee' to the Southwark Cathedral Council and was a Labour Party donor in the 1997 and 2001 General Election campaigns, and was one of the signatories of the letter from 67 business leaders to the Financial Times in 1997 calling for a Labour Party election victory.




* has published four novels, a semi-autobiographical business book, Swimming Against The Stream and is is married to the TV and film producer and novelist Rosie Alison with whom he has eight children.

 Tim Talking about setting up his business and explaining what makes a great entrpreneur :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_fMVCwXqVk&feature=relmfu

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