Duncan Bannatyne

Duncan Walker Bannatyne, OBE D.Sc.(born February 2 1949) is a British entrepreneur and businessman. He is most famous for his appearance as a business angel or Dragon on the BBC programme Dragons' Den.

Biography

Raised in the town of Clydebank and from a relatively poor family, in 1963 and at the young age of fifteen Bannatyne volunteered for eleven years with the Royal Navy as a junior 2nd class engineering mechanic (stoker) at RNTE Shotley better known as the boys' training establishment HMS Ganges near Ipswich, after which he served several years before receiving a dishonourable discharge for disobedience and attempting to throw an officer off a boat landing jetty in Scotland - an offence punishable by hanging in a previous century. In his biography he claims this was in part a reaction to this officer's abuse of his authority, in part a dare by his drunken shipmates and in part a way of getting out of the Navy, with which he had become disillusioned. Bannatyne was only nineteen years old when this happened. After the incident he had to serve 9 months in a military detention centre before being discharged .

After spending his twenties moving from one job to another, Bannatyne lived for a few years on the island of Jersey where he met his first wife. With a difficult business climate for outsiders, at age 30 Bannatyne and his wife moved to Stockton-on-Tees in northern England. Bannatyne's business career began almost immediately with an ice cream van purchased for £450. He soon expanded by buying more vans and eventually sold the business for £28,000, founding a nursing home business instead. He sold his nursing home business Quality Care Homes for £46 million in 1996 and children's nursery chain Just Learning for £22 million.

He has since expanded into health clubs, with the popular Bannatyne's chain to his name, and also to bars, casinos and property. He has recently taken over Living Well health club which is one of the biggest clubs in Britain and named it Bannatyne's Health Club.

His current wealth is estimated at £200 million, as indicated in 2007 by the Sunday Times Rich List, which places him as the 351st richest person in the United Kingdom.

Television career

Since his initial appearance on BBC Two's Dragon's Den, Bannatyne has had a side career developing in the media.

He appeared on ITV1's new show Fortune - Million Pound Giveaway where people seek money to fulfill their dreams. He also made guest appearances on Would I Lie To You? (TV series), 8 out of 10 Cats and several appearances as a panelist on channel Five (channel) The Wright Stuff.

Charity works

Bannatyne received his OBE partly in recognition for his charity work in Romania where over a 10 year period he has funded several projects, notably Casa Bannatyne in Târgu-Mureş, a hospice for orphans with HIV and AIDS.

Personal life

He has six children: four by his first wife, Gail; and two by his current wife, Joanne McCue.

Joanne McCue was Bannatyne's former director of nursing with Quality Care Homes. He proposed to her in Barbados in early 2006, and married her on November 11, 2006 at St Mary's Church in Norton, County Durham. Celebrities at the ceremony included Anna Ryder Richardson, Cherie Lunghi, Gary McCausland, Dragons' Den presenter Evan Davis and fellow Dragons Theo Paphitis, Richard Farleigh and Simon Woodroffe. Pop star Marc Almond then performed for 200 guests in the warehouse next to his company's head office.

Bannatyne and his family live in England and France, maintaining homes in Wynyard in the north-east of England, London and Cannes.

External links

• http://www.building.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=33&storycode=3062044&c=1
• Duncan Bannatyne official site
• Dragons' Den biography of Duncan Bannatyne
• Duncan Bannatyne at IMDb
• http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2015464,00.html
• Duncan Bannatyne - From Ice Cream Man To Multi-Millionaire
• [1] Combined Armed Forces Federation UK