Christina Foyle

Christina Foyle

Christina Agnes Lilian Foyle (30 January 1911 – 8 June 1999) was an English bookseller and owner of Foyles bookshop.

Miss Foyle (as she liked to be called) was born in London. At age 17, after leaving a Swiss finishing school, she started working at her father's bookshop, and never left. The store, Foyles, on Charing Cross Road in the West End of London, had been started in 1904 by her father, William Foyle. She fiercely resisted unionisation of bookshop staff, sacking most employees just before they had worked there six months, when they would gain limited job protection rights.

For 70 years she presided over Foyles lunches. Her idea for bringing readers, writers and thinkers together came after she recommended The Forsyte Saga to an elderly customer who was looking for something to read on the train. The gentleman bought a copy. However he returned it to her a short time later with the words "For the young lady who liked my book — John Galsworthy."

Miss Foyle met many leading literary and political figures over her life. Her collection of personal correspondence included a letter from Adolf Hitler, responding to her complaint about Nazi book-burning. Her literary friends included Kingsley Amis, Charles de Gaulle, D. H. Lawrence, Yehudi Menuhin, J. B. Priestley, George Bernard Shaw, Margaret Thatcher, Evelyn Waugh and H. G. Wells.

Despite numerous unique and often infuriating business practices (see Foyles) she managed to keep Foyles alive while many other bookshops were closing under the growing pressure from online booksellers and kept it going even when Tim Waterstone opened a large shop across the street.

Christina Foyle was related to Charles Henry Foyle, inventor of the "folding carton" and founder of Boxfoldia. Screenwriter Anthony Horowitz has said that Miss Foyle was the namesake for the title character, Christopher Foyle, in the ITV series Foyle's War.

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Foyle's War — Infobox Television show name = Foyle s War caption = Series title card genre = Drama creator = Anthony Horowitz starring = see below opentheme = Jim Parker country = United Kingdom num episodes = 19 list episodes = producer = Jill Green Simon… …   Wikipedia

  • Christina Cole — Cole in September 2010 Born 8 May 1982 (1982 05 08) (age 29) …   Wikipedia

  • Christina Cole — Nombre real Christina Cole Nacimiento 08 de Mayo de 1982 (29 años) Londres, Inglaterra …   Wikipedia Español

  • Charles Henry Foyle — was the inventor of the folding carton and founder of Boxfoldia in Birmingham, England, in 1920; a company that was finally sold in 2003. He died December 9, 1948.[1] In 1940 he put £7000 into a charitable trust, which after further significant… …   Wikipedia

  • William Foyle — (1885 ndash;1963) co founded Foyles bookshop in 1903 with his brother, Gilbert Foyle.The eldest son of a Shoreditch grocer, William attended King s College London with his brother Gilbert. After failing their Civil Service examinations in 1902… …   Wikipedia

  • Foyles — W G Foyle Ltd. (usually called simply Foyles) is a bookshop at 113 ndash;119 Charing Cross Road, London, England. Foyles was once listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world s largest bookshop in terms of shelf area (30 miles/50… …   Wikipedia

  • Foyles — W G Foyle Ltd. (meistens Foyles genannt) ist eine Buchhandlung an der Charing Cross Road in London, England. Die Firma wurde 1903 von den Gebrüdern William und Gilbert Foyle gegründet und zog 1906 an ihren jetzigen Standort um. Als den Brüdern… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • 1999 — Year 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar).The year 1999 was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. It was the Year of the Rabbit in the Chinese… …   Wikipedia

  • 1999 in the United Kingdom — Events from the year 1999 in the United Kingdom.Incumbents*Monarch HM Queen Elizabeth II *Prime Minister Tony Blair, Labour PartyEvents* 24 February The report of the murder of black London teenager Stephen Lawrence, who died six years ago,… …   Wikipedia

  • County Londonderry — For other places with similar names, see Londonderry (disambiguation) and Derry (disambiguation). County Londonderry / County Derry Contae Dhoire Coontie Lunnonderrie …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”