One of the most astute and determined businessmen of recent years, Tim Waterstone founded the remarkably successful Waterstone’s booksellers with £6000 of redundancy money, a move that changed the face of British book retailing. He became the founding chairman of HMV Media Group plc (HMV music stores and Waterstone’s bookstores) and subsequently launched the Daisy & Tom children’s department stores offering everything from clothes to books, toys to hairdressing for children aged 0-8 under one roof – a unique concept to the world of children’s retailing.

A man with diverse interests, Tim has held a variety of appointments in business – serving on the boards of several young companies where his expertise in building up a business proved invaluable. This expertise translates well to the fields of arts and education and Tim is published novelist with three books to date, as well as numerous published and broadcast articles and programmes in general, literary and business media.