Julien Cahn, the son of a German Jewish émigré, was an enormously successful businessman who used his wealth to indulge his somewhat eclectic passions. He built his own cricket ground and put together what is still regarded as the finest private cricket team ever assembled (which he captained): it undertook world tours, beating national teams. He was master of three hunts. An accomplished amateur magician, he built a magnificent art deco theatre at his home, Stanford Hall, and was invited to perform at the London Palladium. He purchased Lord Byron's house, Newstead Abbey and donated it to the nation. There is even a suggestion that he assisted in mitigating the effects of Maundy Gregory's 'cash for honours' scandal. Told by his grand-daughter, this is the vivid picture of Britain in the 1930s, and of one of its most eccentric inhabitants.
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.
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