Bernard Matthews
|
Bernard Matthews CVO CBE QSM |
|
|---|---|
| Born |
Bernard Trevor Matthews 24 January 1930 Brooke, Norfolk, England |
| Died | 25 November 2010 (aged 80) Great Witchingham Hall, Great Witchingham, Norfolk, England |
| Residence | Great Witchingham Hall, Great Witchingham, Norfolk, England |
| Occupation | Poultry farming |
| Years active | 1950–2010 |
| Organization | Bernard Matthews Farms |
| Net worth | £40 million |
| Spouse(s) | Joyce Reid (m. 1952–2010, his death) |
| Partner(s) | Cornelia Elgershuizen Natalie McCray Odile Marteyn |
| Children | 2 daughters, 2 sons |
| Website | www |
Bernard Trevor Matthews CVO CBE QSM (24 January 1930 – 25 November 2010) was the founder of Bernard Matthews Farms, a company that is best known for producing turkey meat products.
Bernard Trevor Matthews was born in 1930 in Brooke, Norfolk, the son of a car mechanic and his housekeeper wife. Skilled at mathematics, he won a scholarship to the City of Norwich School, but found it difficult to settle. As a result of this, he failed his exams. The headmaster refused to let Matthews' exam failure reduce the school's pass-rate and so Bernard Matthews left school with no qualifications.
Matthews worked as a trainee livestock auctioneer at Waters & Son between 1946 and 1948. During an auction at Acle market, he saw 20 freshly laid turkey eggs for sale, which he bought for a shilling each, and then acquired the same day a paraffin-oil incubator, which he bought for £1 10s. The venture to raise them in his future mother-in-law's back garden didn't pay off, as he had not calculated for the additional cost of feed for the birds.
After serving his two-year national service in No. 617 Squadron RAF, Matthews became an insurance clerk to earn an income, and started his company in 1950, buying more turkeys. He was only able to join the business full-time after spending £3,000 buying the dilapidated Great Witchingham Hall and filling its 35 rooms with turkeys. While Matthews and his wife lived in two unheated rooms, turkeys were hatched in the dining-room, reared in the Jacobean bedrooms and slaughtered in the kitchens.
In 1964 he met Nikita Khrushchev to discuss the modernisation of the Russian poultry industry. In 1980 the company launched its first TV commercial featuring Turkey Breast Roast, with Matthews himself introducing the famous "Bootiful" catchphrase in his thick Norfolk accent, and becoming part of what has been described as the "national consciousness".
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