A somewhat secretive billionaire who wants to go bust in his lifetime (more…)
Category: CAMPAIGNERS
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Chuck Feeney (also known as Charles Feeney)
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Chris and Colin Weir
This former Scottish Television cameraman and his ex-nurse wife won £161 million on the EuroMillions lottery in 2011 and “believe that things do happen for a reason, and that with great wealth comes great responsibilities”. Chris and Colin Weir set up a foundation, the Weir Charitable Trust, to support small, local charities and as SNP backers had funded 79% of the ‘Yes’ campaign for independence with a £3.5 million donation as of May 2014. Despite claiming they’d live humbly, they put a tiny dent in their fortune by buying Frognal House, a £3.5 million “dream mansion” in Troon after viewing it for 10 minutes. If Scotland does ever become independent, Alex Salmond should reward this larger than life couple by making them King and Queen. -
Camila Batmanghelidjh CBE
Larger than life Camila Batmanghelidjh was born in Tehran and was once described as “Britain’s most colourful charity leader”. (more…) -
The Rt. Hon. Margaret Bondfield PC (1873 – 1953)
“The name’s Bondfield, Margaret Bondfield”: This left-winger was the first female Cabinet Minister in the UK and the only woman present at the Accession Council which proclaimed King George VI’s accession to the Throne upon the abdication of King Edward VIII. The daughter of a textile worker, Bondfield was only in Parliament between 1926 and 1931 but will forever be remembered for “improving the lot of the downtrodden”. -
Ryan Holle
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Sir Kenneth Robinson
20 million people have watched this Liverpool born educationalist’s “How schools kill creativity” lecture on TED and his advocacy for discovering talents and passions have earned him plaudits galore. Now based in Los Angeles, Robinson once wisely stated: “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original”. He believes “curiosity is the engine of achievement”. -
Jeremy Bamber
Convicted of the 1985 murders of his millionaire adopted parents, his sister and her children at White House Farm at Tolleshunt D’Arcy in Essex, Bamber has always maintained his paranoid schizophrenic sister carried out the slayings before turning the gun on herself. Police incompetence and discrepancies with the evidence should be enough to at least allow a review of the case. Instead, this potentially innocent man rots. He communicates with those who campaign on his behalf via an official website whilst others support him on Twitter. -
Stella Liebeck (1913 – 2004)
This pensioner spilt coffee on her lap in 1992 in the carpark of a McDonald’s drive-through in Albuquerque, New Mexico and won $2.9 million in damages in 1994. The story became the stuff of legends and punch lines yet it wasn’t till a video was produced by Retro Reports in October 2013 that it was revealed that Liebeck suffered burns to 16% of her body and nearly died. This “touchstone for cases about excessive litigation” resulted in McDonald’s reducing the holding and serving temperature of their coffee from 180–190°F to 170–180°F. It turned out there had been over 700 similar reports of burns incidents caused by coffee in McDonald’s between 1983 and 1992. The annual The True Stella Awards®, named after her, now seem rather inappropriate. Here, indeed, was a case of “You can’t believe everything that you read in the newspapers”. -
Henry Wyndham
A collector of English drawings and watercolours since the age of 14 and second to none as an auctioneer, Eton educated Wyndham hammered down Giacometti’s Walking Man sculpture for £65 million in 2010 and Rubens’ Massacre of the Innocents for £49.5 million in 2002. His glasses saved his sight in a shooting accident in Scotland in 2012 and as a result, he’s turned to raising funds for eye hospitals. Donations reached £579,000 by the end of September 2013 and given that he also just happens to be the model for the tall, distinguished auctioneer portrayed in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, it looks as if he’ll be raiding a few more coffers for this good cause yet. -
Lloyd Scott MBE
This former professional football goalkeeper and cancer survivor completed the 2002 London Marathon in a deep-sea diving suit and took 12 days to walk the length of Loch Ness in 2003. He’s completed countless other endeavours in the name of charity and raised millions in the process. His efforts are commendable and of his MBE, Scott once commented: “It should stand for ‘Mad, Bonkers and Eccentric’”.
