Billy Butlin

SIR BILLY BUTLIN MBE d1980. South African-born British entrepreneur whose name is synonymous with the British holiday camp. Although holiday camps such as Warner's existed in one form or another before Butlin opened his first in 1936, it was he who turned holiday camps into a multimillion-pound industry and an important aspect of British culture. In Canada, he had struggled to fit in at school and soon left for a job in a Toronto department store Eaton's. In WWI he enlisted as a bugler in the Canadian army. After the war, he returned to England (bringing only £5 with him). Investing £4 of that money to hire a stall travelling with his uncle's fair, he discovered that giving his customers a better chance to win brought more custom in and he quickly became successful. One stall became several, including prominent locations such as Olympia in London. He soon was able to purchase other fairground equipment and started his own travelling fair. He proved successful in this endeavour as well and by 1927 he opened a static fairground in Skegness. In 1972, he sold the business to the Rank Organisation after they launched a friendly takeover for £43 million which both he and his son agreed to accept. He died in Jersey aged 80 on June 12th 1980