Fred Pontin

He was born in Highams Park, the son of Frederick William Pontin, an East End cabinet maker, and Elizabeth Marian Tilyard, and attended Sir George Monoux Grammar School in Walthamstow but left without passing any examinations. He had a successful career in the city's Stock Exchange before World War II.

During the war, he was involved in helping to establish hostels for construction workers. Based on this experience, he decided to move into the holiday camp business after the war. In 1946, he formed a syndicate to buy an old disused camp at Brean Sands near Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset which was the beginnings of the company known as Pontins. He gradually expanded his business to encompass thirty sites including the popular Southport and Prestatyn resorts.

In 1960, he bought Farringford House on the Isle of Wight, the former home of Alfred, Lord Tennyson which had been turned into a hotel. Pontin kept racehorses in stables near the hotel, one of which, Specify, won the 1971 Grand National.

He expanded his holiday business into other parts of Europe, forming Pontinental in 1963 with holiday villages in Spain, Majorca, Sardinia, Ibiza, Greece, Morocco and Yugoslavia. In 1978, Pontins and Pontinental were sold to Coral for £56 million and he remained a director for two years, and continued to run hotels, including Farringford. In 1984, he acquired London Dungeon and opened York Dungeon in 1986.