The liner notes state:
"Butlin is a name known to everyone
in the land. Countless thousands remember holidays spent in his
holiday camps. To those who have had such an experience the name
of Billy Butlin is synonymous with happiness. But "Mr
Happiness" has had to endure some miserable setbacks on the
way up to deserve this title. Many have asked and wondered what
sort of a man is the originator of this vast organisation. Here is
the answer - the story of a man with a vision, the core of which
was how to provide a first-class holiday suitable to every
possible taste and type of person at a fair price.
In this gay and perceptive life
story we meet young Butlin as a boy at school in Bristol and later
in Toronto. We see him take his first job at the age of thirteen,
collecting waste paper. We see him join the Canadian Army at
fifteen and serving in it through the First World War. We follow
his footsteps back to Canada and back again to England, where his
imagination and courage, coupled with the support and guidance of
his mother, paid handsome dividends on the fairgrounds and
amusement parks until the great day when Skegness Holiday Camp was
opened. On the outbreak of World War II the camps were taken over
by the Army, but Butlin's services and advice were sought by the
leaders of Government and Service Chiefs and used to the full.
After the War there were
difficulties, but Butlin surmounted these and new camps were
opened...Here is a true story that is more dramatic and exciting
than fiction and far more rewarding."
Condition: Very good. |
