Tim Waterstone

Timothy John Stuart Waterstone was born on 30 May 1939 in Glasgow, Scotland. He is the son of Malcolm Stuart Waterstone, MBE (died 1977), and Sylvia Catherine (died 1967), daughter of George Curnock Sawday of Beechfield, The Common, Weybridge, Surrey, a dentist and "well-known amateur rosarian". Malcolm Waterstone had previously worked in Calcutta in his fifty-year career with P. R. Buchanan & Co., a Glasgow tea company operating in India, of which he became a partner. He was appointed MBE in 1942, whilst serving as a Captain (temporary Major) in the Royal Army Service Corps. Waterstone grew up in "a rather cramped, 1930s detached house ... Ugly, unpretentious, nice big garden, fields at the end of it" in Crowborough, East Sussex, England. He was educated at Tonbridge School and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he read English. ==Career==

Waterstone worked for a broking firm in Calcutta, India. He became the chairman of Read Petite, an e-book company, in 2013. Waterstone has published four novels: Lilley & Chase (Hodder 1994), An Imperfect Marriage (Hodder 1995), A Passage of Lives (Hodder 1996) and In For A Penny In For A Pound (Atlantic 2010). His short story The Tiffany Glass Panel was published in The Mail on Sunday in 1994. He has published a semi-autobiographical business book, Swimming Against The Stream (Macmillan 2006) and many articles in the arts and business media. His memoir, The Face Pressed Against A Window was published by Atlantic Books in February 2019, as was the audiobook of the memoir, which he personally narrated. He appeared as a castaway in the BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs broadcast on 4 August 2019. ==Philanthropy and political activity==

Waterstone was a chairman or board member of English International (1987–1992), the London Philharmonic Orchestra (1990–1997), Portman House Trust (1994–1996), the Academy of Ancient Music (1990–1995), Sinclair-Stevenson Publishers (1989–1994), Virago Press (1993–1995), Jazz FM (1991–1993), the London International Festival of Theatre (1990–1992), the Elgar Foundation (1992–1998), the British Library (1995–1997), King's College London Library (2000–2002), Yale University Press (1992–2013), Chelsea Stores (1996–2007), FutureStart (1992–2009), Virago Press (1995–1996), Hill Samuel UK Emerging Companies Investment Trust plc (1996–2000) and Downing Classic VCT (1998–2003). Waterstone supports the Labour Party (he chose Clement Attlee as his 'hero' in the initial 2001 BBC Radio 4 series Great Lives). He was opposed to the Iraq War and took part in demonstrations against it. ==Personal life==

Waterstone is twice divorced. Waterstone is a member of the Garrick Club. ==References==