2019.08.04 蒂姆-沃特斯通爵士是连锁书店的创始人

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Sir Tim Waterstone is the founder of the bookshop chain that bears his name. Born in May 1939, he was the youngest of three children. His father, who worked for a tea company all his life, served in the Royal Army Service Corps during the war, and so was absent when Tim was very young. Their relationship was difficult throughout his childhood. Tim was educated at boarding schools from the age of six, when his parents went to India for two and a half years. After studying English at Cambridge and a stint working in India, he joined Allied Breweries, moving to WH Smith in 1973. Eight years later he was fired and at this point he decided to open his own bookshop.

The first Waterstone’s opened its doors in 1982 when Tim was 43. A further 86 bookshops opened within a decade. In 1993, he sold the company to his former employer, WH Smith. Five years later, he bought it back again as part of a newly formed group, HMV Media, but just three years after that, in 2001, he resigned as chairman. Since then he’s made several unsuccessful attempts to buy back the company which changed hands most recently in 2018.

He recently celebrated his 80th birthday and lives in London with his third wife, the television director Rosie Alison.

BOOK CHOICE: Oxford Book of English Poetry
LUXURY ITEM: A Photo of his wife
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: The Dream of Gerontius by Edward Elgar



蒂姆-沃特斯通爵士是以其名字命名的连锁书店的创始人。他出生于1939年5月，是三个孩子中最小的一个。他的父亲一生都在一家茶叶公司工作，战争期间在皇家陆军服务团服役，因此在蒂姆很小的时候就不在了。在他的整个童年时期，他们的关系都很困难。蒂姆从六岁起就在寄宿学校接受教育，当时他的父母去了印度，为期两年半。在剑桥大学学习英语并在印度工作了一段时间后，他加入了联合啤酒公司，1973年转到了WH Smith。八年后，他被解雇了，这时他决定开一家自己的书店。

1982年，第一家Waterstone's开业，当时蒂姆43岁。在十年内又有86家书店开业。1993年，他把公司卖给了他的前雇主WH Smith。五年后，他又将其买回，作为新成立的集团HMV媒体的一部分，但仅仅三年后，即2001年，他就辞去了董事长的职务。从那时起，他曾多次试图买回公司，但都没有成功，最近一次是在2018年转手。

他最近庆祝了他的80岁生日，并与他的第三任妻子、电视导演罗西-艾莉森住在伦敦。

书籍选择：《牛津英语诗集》。
奢侈物品：他妻子的照片
卡斯塔维的最爱：爱德华-埃尔加的《杰隆修斯之梦》。