A fireside chat with Peter Thornton of  the Thornton's chocolate family talking of his experience and recent book "My Life in the Family Business".

Peter is our best known clientside author/speaker to date so we've been anticipating this event for some months now.  I'm reading his book now and it's is definately proving to be a great business insight read but more excitingly it's full of family drama and gossip.

FROM THE BACK COVER

This is a frank and honest story of the Thornton family and their confectionery business. It's the story of the building of one of Britain's premier brands by a family that was frequently at war: the battles of the generations and of sibling rivalry. Nothing is held back, the good times, the bad times, the successes, the failures, the conflicts, the love affairs and the moments of high elation and deep depression.

Peter Thornton, Ex-Chairman of the family business tells his story with startling frankness, starting in his youth through to his dismissal from the company in 1987 after a 35 year career, which had been very successful. It was a dismissal which seemed to be entirely a result of family politics and jealousies and nothing to do with performance - a dismissal resulting from a boardroom coup that tore the heart out of the Thorntons family. This is a story of family betrayals, suicides and extra-marital affairs.

THE REVIEWS

"This book reads like an absorbing novel but it is a real life drama. Myriad pleasures await you as Peter Thornton takes you inside his family's business. Enjoy"

Jo Brand (who writes one of the entertaining intros)

"An unglossed account of how Thorntons grew from one shop to a £100 million turnover business, in spite of deeply dysfunctional leadership. Peter Thornton's book is a great page-turner. Whether you are a business or a generalist reader, I commend this book to you"

Alistair Blair, Investors Chronicle

Meet Peter and hear it from the horses mouth. Definately a book club to remember.
There will be books on sale that he will happily autograph or buy it here http://amzn.to/aqahoY (amazon)

BOOK SWAPPING
One of the important parts of the book club is “Swap Time”. Bring along a book (or two) that you recommend to swap with other members. You get to swap back at the next meeting or contact your swapee direct to unswap once you’ve read the book. Don't use this as an excuse not to come though, it's not compulsory.

Attendees are a mixture of senior managers and professionals mostly working in agencies and creative industries, branding, marketing and communications.

The venue is the upstairs lounge at the Slug and Lettuce Pub in 19/20 Hanover Street. Westminster, London, W1S 1YR. Nearest tube is Oxford Circus http://www.slugandlettuce.co.uk/hanover_street/

We will be charging a mere £4 (plus booking fee) for advance tickets or £5 on the door for this event. Just to cover the venue hire charge, noone is making a profit. Book here http://lbbc8.eventbrite.com

If you haven't already don't forget to check out our previous speakers:

LBBC1: Maurice De Castro's author of Hamster to Harmony. I've been saying to myself GET OFF THE WHEEL ever since www.hamstertoharmony.com. Buy the book at amazon: http://tinyurl.com/yfzokqw

LBBC2: Mark Earls author of The Herd, how to change mass behaviour by harnessing our true nature. Find out the hidden truth of who we are at http://herd.typepad.com Buy the book at Amazon :http://tinyurl.com/lpcrkz

LBBC3: Jonathan Salem Baskin author of Branding Only Works on Cattle. Read his brilliant contrarian rants on branding and marketing at www.baskinbrand.com and http://dimbulb.typepad.com/ Buy the book at Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/yzkndl8

LBBC4: Penny Power, founder of Ecademy, social media expert and author of "Know Me, Like Me, Follow Me". Read her blog at http://www.knowmelikemefollowme.com/ Buy the book athttp://tinyurl.com/yazv9rk 

LBBC5: Will King, Founder of King of Shaves, author of "How to Build a Great Business in Tough Times" . Will was brill, longest conversation so far. Check out www.shave.com Buy the book athttp://tinyurl.com/y873mtm

LBBC6: Alex Hesz and Bambos Neophytou authors of "Guilt Trip: from fear to guilt on the green bandwagon" Great double act full of green marketing facts, opinions and dry humour. Buy the book athttp://bit.ly/al0ehm

LBBC7: the AMAZING Shed Simove author of Ideas Man and inventer of inspired novelty products. We loved him. Lots more at www.shedsimove.com. Buy the book at http://bit.ly/bpbFcA

LBBC8: Jemima Gibbons author of "Monkeys with Typewriters, Myths and realities of social media at work" Read Jemima's blog http://www.interactiveknowhow.com, Buy the book at http://bit.ly/bOpYfu 

LBBC9: John Grant author of  "Co-Opportunity, join up for a sustainable, resilient, prosperous world". Read his Green Normal blog http://greenormal.blogspot.com/ But the book at http://bit.ly/bOpYfu

The London Business Book Club is a monthly meet up to swap, give away, recommend and talk about business books featuring fascinating author/speakers. The kind of books that have taught you, motivated you, inspired you, improved your understanding of psychology, sociology or other ologys.

For information of future events join The London Business Book Club group on facebook , Linkedin or meetup.com. Add pictures of you or one of your colleagues reading a business book that has most inspired them

SAVE THE DATE

Wed 21st July The next London Business Book Club event with Brad Burton author of "Get off your Arse"