Michael Wynn-Jones

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Michael Wynn-Jones (left) with Delia Smith at the 25th anniversary of the "Capital Canaries", 2000

Michael Wynn-Jones is a Welsh-born writer, editor and publisher. He is the joint majority shareholder of Norwich City Football Club, with his wife, Delia Smith.[1][2]

Early life

Wynn-Jones studied at Lancing College and the University of Oxford, and is a writer, editor and publisher.[3][4][5] His father worked as a Church of England vicar in Tivetshall and Redenhall with Harleston, and his mother was a teacher at Diss Grammar School.[6][7] Wynn-Jones married Delia Smith in 1971 in Stowmarket, Suffolk.[3][8][9] Wynn-Jones established New Crane Publishing, which produced some of Smith's books as well as the Sainsbury's magazine, which Wynn-Jones edited.[10][11] In 2005, New Crane Publishing was sold to Seven Publishing for around £7 million; Smith had been working as a consultant for the publishing company.[12][13] Wynn-Jones was the former Deputy Editor of the Daily Mirror, during which time in 1969, Delia Smith became the cookery writer for the magazine.[9][14] In 1972, George Gale appointed Wynn-Jones as Deputy Editor of The Spectator, and he has also worked for the Twentieth Century and Nova magazines.[8][4] Wynn-Jones has also authored many books, including The Cartoon History of Britain, George Cruikshank: His Life and London about George Cruikshank, and 100 Years on the Road: A Social History of the Car.[8][15] In her autobiography, Brigid Keenan thanked Wynn-Jones for asking her to write a column on expats for him in the Sainsbury's magazine.[16]

Norwich City

Wynn-Jones attended his first Norwich City F.C. match in 1953.[6] In 1997, Wynn-Jones became the current joint majority shareholder of Norwich City F.C. with his wife Delia Smith.[3][17][18] In Tales From The City, a series of books about the history of Norwich City F.C. published in 2015, Wynn-Jones says that in 1996 former majority shareholder Geoffrey Watling invited them to make a loan to the club, in exchange for board of directors positions at the club. They later purchased Watling's shares in the club, making them majority shareholders, and in 1998, Wynn-Jones and Smith owned 63% of the club's shares.[19] By 2006, their share in the club had reduced to 57%,[20] and in 2015 their share had reduced again to 53%.[21] In 2013, the pair wrote off £2.1 million of debt that the club owed them, as part of a £23 million reduction in the club's deficit;[22] it has been estimated that Wynn-Jones and Smith have invested around £12 million into the club since 1996.[23] In the 2015–16 season, Wynn-Jones and Smith's estimated worth was reportedly £23 million, the least of any Premier League club owners.[24][25][1] Roy Waller wrote of Wynn-Jones and Smith that they are "crucial to the club's success", as they invested a lot with "very little return"; Waller noted that Wynn-Jones attends every Norwich match, both home and away, and often chose to sit with the fans during matches, rather than being in the directors' box.[26]

References

  1. ^ a b Lakey, Chris (12 May 2016). "Is now the time for Norwich City owners to think of selling up?". Eastern Daily Press. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  2. ^ "Key People". Norwich City F.C. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  3. ^ a b c "Profile: Delia Smith". The Independent. 11 December 1999. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  4. ^ a b Molloy, Mike (March 2016). The Happy Hack - A Memoir of Fleet Street in its Heyday. John Blake Publishing. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  5. ^ "Delia runs wild in the bookshop". The Independent. 16 October 1995. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  6. ^ a b "An audience with Delia Smith". BBC Radio Norfolk. 29 March 2007. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  7. ^ "Norwich City Joint Majority shareholder Michael Wynn Jones pays tribute to his mother". Eastern Daily Press. 1 January 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  8. ^ a b c Patton, Robert L. (1974). George Cruikshank: A Revaluation. Vol. 35. p. 14. Retrieved 2 July 2016. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  9. ^ a b Bee, Peter Wynter (July 2008). People of the Day 3. People of the Day. p. 103. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  10. ^ Goodison, David (8 August 1995). "All gloss and no substance". The Independent. Retrieved 16 October 2009.
  11. ^ "Michael Wynn Jones". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  12. ^ Busfield, Steve (11 January 2005). "Millions added to Delia Smith's stock pot". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 October 2009.
  13. ^ Lee, Adrian (14 May 2011). "The two Delia Smiths". Daily Express. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  14. ^ Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries (2005). The Riverside Dictionary of Biography. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 737. Retrieved 9 July 2016. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  15. ^ Berger, Michael L. (2001). The Automobile in American History and Culture: A Reference Guide. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 242. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  16. ^ Keenan, Brigid (March 2011). "Introduction". Diplomatic Baggage: The Adventures of a Trailing Spouse. Hachette UK. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  17. ^ "Norwich legend Watling has died". BBC Sport. 17 November 2004. Retrieved 27 March 2007.
  18. ^ "Nigella Lawson joins team to save football club". London Evening Standard. 25 March 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  19. ^ "Safeguarding Norwich City's future was an offer Michael Wynn Jones and Delia Smith could not refuse". Eastern Daily Press. 13 October 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  20. ^ Hickman, Martin (21 August 2006). "Britain's richest chefs". The Independent. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  21. ^ "English Premier League Teams Owners". Live Sports Reviews. 24 November 2015. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  22. ^ Osborne, Chris (10 October 2013). "Norwich City erase £23m of debt to secure 'rosy future'". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  23. ^ Hough, Andrew (11 May 2011). "Delia Smith: Britain's 'first lady' of cooking". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  24. ^ "Premier League's richest owners: How much is YOUR club's ownership worth?". Daily Mirror. 12 August 2015. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  25. ^ Watts, Jack (19 April 2016). "Revealed: Which Premier League owner is richest? And how wealthy is your club's chief?". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  26. ^ Waller, Roy (October 2004). Waller's World. Grice Chapman Publishing. pp. 66–67. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
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