Frank Pullen

Frank Pullen (September 8, 1915 – January 17, 1992) was an English businessperson and racehorse owner.

He was born Francis Henry Pullen to Arthur and Alice Pullen at Catford, South London. His father was killed in a submarine accident during WW1 and Alice had to support four children on her own during the depression, Frank being the youngest. Frank married at 17 to Poppy and after a working as a cook at Woolworth he inlisted in the army at the start of WW2. He was one of the survivors of D-Day, landing at ""gold"" beach, and later during WW2 helped liberate the Belgium town of Lessines. A grateful town gave him the freedom of the city and he later named two of his homes (one in Bromley and one in Looe, Cornwall, where he would holiday) "Lessines" in honor of this. After he was demobilised from the 8th army in 1948 he started in business as a builder in a wartorn South London and was soon one of South London's leading property developers. He specialised at first building houses and maisonettes and soon progressed to blocks of flats and then later housing estates, building over forty major developments. Pullen soon became a millionaire and in 1965 he ordered his first new Rolls-Royce from coachbuilder, James Young, a luxury coachbuilder cited in Bromley, Kent. Pullen also opened a series of hardware shops with branches covering south London. His new wealth also enabled him to enjoy his passion of horse racing, training and breeding. He became a popular owner with horses at Josh Gifford and Bob Champion racing yards among others and as such was interviewed by the Radio Times magazine for their April 8-14, 1972 edition, having just bought a horse especially for that year's Grand National Horse race at Aintree. A friend of Peter Bromley, Terry Wogan, would often banter about Franks horses to amuse a radio nation's morning, particularly the similarly named "Manny boy" and "Mandy boy". Frank Pullen formally retired in 1988 and when he died on January 17, 1992 peacefully at his stable yard in Orpington Kent, his wife received a letter of condolense from Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. He is buried at Bromley, Kent.

References

• Champion, Bob (1981). Champion’s story : a great human triumph. London: Gollancz. pp. 216p., 24p. of plates : ports., 23cm. ISBN 0575030194. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |accessyear=, |origmonth=, |accessmonth=, |month=, |chapterurl=, and |origdate= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

• Radio Times, April 8-14, 1972
• The Sporting Life, January 24 1992
• This is Findon Village – The Horses of Frank H. Pullen