Eccentric Entrepreneur

Sir Julien Cahn was possibly the most successful eccentric in 1930's Britain. A complex man with diverse interests, Cahn's visions influenced cricket, business, politics and medicine. Having built the largest mass-market furniture empire in England, incorporating the well-known Jays and Campbells, he used wealth to fund his extraordinary hobbies: as a cricket fanatic he established the internationally renowned Sir Julien Cahn's XI, outplaying national teams during lavish world tours; as an accomplished magician he built a magnificant art deco theatre and cinema at his home, Stanford Hall, and staged illusions so spectacular that he was invited to perform at London's Palladium Theatre. Despite being a Jew in the 1930s, Cahn managed a rapid ascent up the social ladder, and even found himself embroiled in the buying of honours scandal. Yet his largesse was legendary, supporting medicine and agriculture, and as Chairman of The National Birthday Trust Fund he was instrumental in developing the first human milk bank and introducing anaesthetics in childbirth. In this fascinating life story of Cahn, Miranda Rijks goes beyond penning a simple biography, and paints a vivid picture of life in upper-class Britain: a world of wealth and splendour that is barely conceivable today.