The finest suits, sharpest haircuts, regular manicures, chunky gold jewellery, abundant charm and even titled grandchildren could not disguise the fact that the businessman George Walker, one-time head of the multimillion-pound Brent Walker empire, who has died aged 81, was a man who had fought his way up. His face, shaped by his years as a boxer, his wariness, the dark shadows under his piercing eyes and, mostly, his finger-cracking handshake, would have given the game away even if he had not been proud of his roots.
Walker was always prepared to tell journalists and others his life story, and to repeat his mantra that anyone who has been poor has a fear that stays with them. As a motivation, it certainly worked for Walker. It is hard to avoid the boxing metaphors, but he was knocked flat several times during his long and extraordinary career, and each time he picked himself up and seemed almost to look forward to the next round.
He was born in Stepney, east London, the second son of William, a brewer's drayman, and his wife, Ellen. Even as a child, he showed an entrepreneurial streak, running errands and doing newspaper, grocery and butcher's rounds after school. By the time he left school at 14, he had to take a drop in income to become an apprentice carpenter. But Walker craved money, and soon went on to better-paid work as a fish porter in Billingsgate market.
Called to do his national service at 18, he was in the RAF when he first became serious about boxing. He quickly showed the talent that propelled him to become, in 1951, British amateur light-heavyweight champion, ranked seventh in the world. Turning professional, he won 11 of his 14 fights, eight wins being knockouts. But his boxing career came to an abrupt halt in 1953 when he was defeated by Dennis Powell in a vicious fight during which Walker sustained an eye injury, leaving him with permanent double vision.
His ability to take care of himself extended beyond the boxing ring, and Walker was recruited as a minder by the gangster Billy Hill, the self-styled "Boss of Britain's Underworld". During a botched robbery of a consignment of stockings at the Royal Docks in east London, Walker was arrested (with difficulty) and later sentenced to more than two years in prison by a judge who described him as "a gullible fool".
Not long after his release, he met and married, in 1957, Jean Hatton. Although her father had some misgivings about the marriage, he nevertheless brought Walker into his garage business. George and Jean worked hard, adding road transport and taxis to build up the business.
By then, Walker's younger brother Billy had embarked on a boxing career. Known as "The Blond Bomber", Billy was, through his good looks, immensely marketable. George became his manager, demanding bigger purses than was usual at the time. The cash from Billy's career funded the brothers' first business ventures, which tended to be in activities which they understood, such as a chain of baked potato restaurants, a roller-skating rink and dog tracks. It was their investment in a company called Hackney & Hendon Greyhounds which moved Walker into a new league of wealth and activity.
The company, which was merged with Walker's original businesses to create Brent Walker, owned land which eventually became part of the successful Brent Cross shopping centre in north London. Brent Walker sold out of the development at an early stage, but made enough cash to continue to build the company. Amid signs of tension between the brothers, Billy resigned and left George in control of Brent Walker, which continued to invest in the leisure industry, mostly financed with bank loans. Brighton Marina, more than 1,000 pubs, golf and hotel complexes across Europe, the Trocadero and Lyceum venues at Piccadilly Circus in London, the casino at the French resort Le Touquet, film production: nothing seemed beyond Walker's reach.
At the same time, his personal wealth was on the up and up, and with that came social contacts and advancement. He bought smart houses in fashionable areas, a yacht which he took to Cannes to entertain during the film festival, and he developed a taste for opera, sponsoring a production of Wagner's Ring Cycle. He sent his children to Millfield school in Somerset, and his elder daughter, Sarah, married George Mountbatten, the marquess of Milford Haven, a cousin of the Duke of Edinburgh. The pair had two children.
Merchant bankers queued up to offer Walker deals and the cash to finance them. It was one such deal, the purchase of the William Hill chain of bookmakers for £685m, which eventually brought about the collapse of Brent Walker under £1.4bn of debt, but not before Walker had been unceremoniously ejected from the company after a bankers' ultimatum demanded his removal. He was made personally bankrupt and then charged with theft and false accounting, but after a long trial he was cleared.
By then, he had started new business ventures, concentrating on Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union. He bought a house in Moscow, became a Russian resident, acquired a contract to run the Moscow lottery and set up a company to beam European sporting events into Russia.
He remained devoted to Jean, who was integral to several of his ventures. She survives him along with his son, two daughters and grandchildren.
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