John Bloom
Encyclopedia
John Bloom is an English
entrepreneur
, known for his success and failure at the Rolls Razor
company in selling washing machines in the early 1960s.
's son, he was born to orthodox Jewish parents in London's East End. Bloom's father Sam was born in Poland, and his mother was of Sephardic background. He attended Hackney Downs School
. After leaving school aged 16, he tried a number of schemes before enlisting in the Royal Air Force
. Bloom was initially posted to No3 Radio School at RAF Compton Bassett
near Calne
, Wiltshire
for his training as a signalman. The local coach company Cards of Devizes
provided contracted coaches to the RAF, which on a Saturday afternoon would take the airmen to London on their 36 hour passes. Bloom decided with a friend who ran a coach company in Stoke Newington
that they could undercut the Card/RAF's coaches by half. When Cards took Bloom to court, the judge upheld Bloom with a declaration that became Bloom's motto: "It's no sin to make a profit." Bloom was later posted to Bletchley Park
and then managed to get a posting to Bush House
in the Aldwych
, on the grounds that his mother was unwell. She died several years later from a form of Multiple Sclerosis
-made washing-machines door-to-door
. After a while Bloom started his own company and tried to buy machines from Holland. As Bloom had very little money or credit, many Dutch firms refused to manufacture for him. After eventually making a deal with a plant in Utrecht
, Bloom formed his own company which advertised the "Electromatic" twin tub washer-spin dryer for 39 guineas - 50% below high street
retailers prices.
In 1958 Bloom placed an advert in the Daily Mirror offering home washing-machine demonstrations. Generating 7,000 responses via posted coupon responses, Blooms' unorthodox marketing and low prices meant that within a short time period he had taken 10% of the market from Hoover
and Hotpoint
. Bloom's innovation was to sell the machines direct to the public via coupon advertising, at around half the cost of retailers
, also sold largely through affordable hire purchase
agreements.
By now selling 500 machines a week, Bloom calculated to cut overheads by manufacturing in Britain. Bloom cut a deal with the then moribund Rolls Razor Company to make 25,000 twin-tub washing machines, and later merged the two companies, becoming Managing Director with a majority share of the companies stock. In early 1962 Bloom, formed an alliance with the Colston dishwasher company, and expanded into dishwasher
s,and in 1963 took over sales of the famous Prestcold Refrigerator business immediately cutting the prices by half from those that had been sold by retail outlets. This was followed by, rental TVs
trading stamps - and latterly Bulgaria
n holidays a 2 week all in holiday was just 59 pounds once again cutting out retailers as he signed an exclusive deal to market Bulgaria in the U.K. "Bloom had achieved fame and fortune selling cheap In the 1950’s washing machines were expensive and John Bloom sold them cheap. The idea was that the more he had made, the less they would cost him and the less he could charge. Still not cheap enough? Offer a really cheap one then get your salesman to switch-sell to one a little more expensive. Obviously, the alternative of service-guarantees wasn’t available in the 50’s. Within seven years, John had run out of millions of people to buy his machines and had gone bust, but not before he’d started another get-rich-quick scheme. Cheap holidays for the masses. In Bulgaria.
Here’s how it worked. The Bulgarian Black Sea coast was warm and sunny and littered with modern functional hotels. Why? Because Bulgaria was a communist country and part of the Soviet bloc. Communist organizations sent their best workers on holiday, not to Spain, naturally, because Spain cost hard currency. Holidaying at home, or near to it was better, and cheaper. Bulgaria was the worker’s choice.
But, Bulgaria wanted to buy nice, expensive western things and didn’t have any nice expensive western money to buy them with. There were two alternatives – barter – you get some Bulgarian wine and we get some jeans, and sales for hard currency direct (we don’t care how much as long as it’s hard). Enter J. Bloom you sell me hotel accommodation and food, I’ll bring you millions of clients that you can proselytise at and, I’ll give you loads (well, some) hard, very hard, western currency. Don’t forget John Bloom was a salesman, so he wouldn’t forget to sell the Bulgarians the "Benefits" rather than just the "Features". So, he’d have said " Our holidaymakers will Love Bulgaria and they’ll have a wonderful time. So, they’ll go home and tell all their friends how beautiful Bulgaria is, how good Bulgarian food is and how fantastic Bulgarian wine is. They’ll love you all and they’ll buy your food and wine and holidays. You’ll be made – and popular!"
The Bulgarians fell for it, and soon Zlatni Pyassatsi was "Sunny Beach", Slunchev Bryag" was "Golden Sands" and Drouzhba and Varna were Drouzhba and Varna. The state airline, the aptly named TABSO was contracted for flights from the UK. Holidaymakers in their thousands piled in at £59 for two weeks full board and all the yoghourt you could eat. Then Rolls Razor went bust.
As far as the Bulgarians were concerned, this was a disaster, they liked this game – hard currency for nothing that cost them anything, and good PR. It was great, and they didn’t want it to stop. Luckily, the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society came to the rescue and, with Balkantourist, the Bulgarian state-owned tourist organization, formed Balkan Holidays to satisfy the demand for Bulgarian holidays created by Mr Bloom." 8*
The company listed on the London Stock Exchange
in mid-1962, at $3.50, with the price doubling in weeks. By the end of 1963, the marketed Rolls-Colston company was selling over 200,000 machines a year.
The listing of Rolls Razor made Bloom a millionaire
, and along with his black Rolls Royce Phantom
he married Anne, in 1961. Bloom bought a Park Lane
apartment, a French Riviera
villa, and the 376-ton 150 foot motor yacht Ariane for $1,000,000. Famous for his social connections,and parties attended by celebrities and politicians alike, The Beatles, Shirley Bassey, Peter Ustinov, Adam Faith and David Bowie
credits Bloom as being central to his first record deal, when the then-unknown singer was invited to play at a party in Bloom's Park Lane flat, and subsequently introduced to an agent. Bloom was the first commercial sponsor in May 1963 of the Royal Windsor Horse Show
,and on 18 March 1964 in the House of Lords Lord Balfour Of Inchrne called then Prime Minister Harold Wilson " A real super salesman the John Bloom of political life"
Bloom had a lover in 1962, 18 year old Christine Hughes who was the wife of Brighton
's "Blue Gardenia Club" Harvey Holford. After Hughes returned from a tryst with Bloom, Holford shot Hughes five times and was found lying by her body. On 29 March 1963 Holford was found guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of provocation and diminished responsibility, and sentenced to three years imprisonment.
, who by mid-1964 had bankrolled Bloom with a $28 million loan. Spotting trouble, Sir Isaac withdrew his support and sped the downfall. With Bloom suspected of malpractice
, the companies shares were suspended at $0.15 in mid-July 1964, before the company announced it would be placed into voluntary liquidation
.
After the collapse there were many recriminations, but The Economist
said at the time:
"If the British economy is not sufficiently competitive wrote Harold Wincott in the Financial Times, if established industry is too solidly wedded to price maintenance, we need more John Blooms not fewer of them" and in a provocative letter to The Times Ralph Harris Director of the Institute of Economic Affairs wrote " Mr. Bloom has already done more for economic growth in Britain than many of its verbal champions in NEDC and Elsewhere"
called 1520 A.D.,as quoted in Time magazine Good evening. For tonight you are back in 1520 A.D., where women are second-class citizens." With that greeting male customers are ushered into the 1520 A.D. restaurant in Anaheim, Calif., where Old English fantasy, audience participation and a big helping of unabashed male chauvinism are on the menu. Women are ordered to walk six paces behind their escorts into the paneled banquet hall, where spoons are used for banging on tables, and the diners themselves play leading roles in an outlandish floor show.
Others in the cast of characters include a juggler, a man dressed in a bear costume who periodically chases a fleeing damsel around the room, and a bevy of "pinchable wenches" who wait on tables—and dance on them too. Presiding over all is a reincarnated Henry VIII, brought back to life at the boisterous age of 29. When the King enters the room, diners are expected to drop their forks and snap to attention. When he raises his tankard and exclaims "All hail," the guests are expected to return the toast, "Wassail." When his jester leads a chorus of the King's favorite ditty, Immorality Forever, woe to the bloke who fails to sing along.
"I am told someone thinks his soup is more important than singing," bellows the King's henchman if a nonsinger is detected. "He who does not sing goes to the stocks, and we encourage bread to be thrown at him." Without further encouragement, the customers begin beating their spoons on tables and chanting, "Stocks, stocks" and the hapless miscreant, man or woman, is unceremoniously clapped in a pillory and pelted with wads of bread by his fellow diners. As a consolation, the prisoner may also receive spontaneous—and sympathetic—kisses from other diners.
"It's like mass group therapy," says John Bloom, the 1520s creator, in explaining why people spend $7.95 for the privileges of eating a mediocre meal and taking part in the far-out activities. "This is a place where people can release their inhibitions. It's all in fun and we don't let it get out of hand." )
A fast-talking Englishman, now 40, who made and lost a fortune selling washing machines, Bloom had been struck by Comic Don Rickles' ability to insult Las Vegas audiences and make them love it. Audience participation, he decided, could spark interest in the little-known medieval restaurant he had opened in London. The serendipitous broadcast of The Six Wives of Henry VIII on British television provided some free publicity, and after Bloom added the nonstop entertainment, the prototype 1520 became a success.
The Anaheim version of the restaurant shamelessly mixes old English songs with choruses of I've Been Working on the Railroad and The Star Spangled Banner. But despite the anachronisms and some complaints from outraged feminists and men who did not like the way their dates were manhandled in the stocks, the 1520 has been packing them in since it opened three months ago. Bloom and his associate, Writer Daud Alani, have already opened a second branch in Los Angeles and plan to go nationwide next year. They hope to make a profit while they can, for there is an obvious limit to the amount of repeat business the 1520s will do. "You could not come here every night," says Bloom. "You could not stand the strain." (7) From 1972 to 1978 1520 AD opened in leading hotels in major U:S cities, the Business ceased operations in 1979, Bloom moved to Mallorca where he later opened a Piano Bar which he eventually sold to his partners.Since then he has been involved as a consultant for multi national companies,and in Corporate Hospitality and sponsorship
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
, known for his success and failure at the Rolls Razor
Rolls Razor
Rolls Razor Limited was a British company known for its manufacture of a sophisticated safety-razor and an "affordable" twin-tub washing machine.-Origins: razor:...
company in selling washing machines in the early 1960s.
Biography
A tailorTailor
A tailor is a person who makes, repairs, or alters clothing professionally, especially suits and men's clothing.Although the term dates to the thirteenth century, tailor took on its modern sense in the late eighteenth century, and now refers to makers of men's and women's suits, coats, trousers,...
's son, he was born to orthodox Jewish parents in London's East End. Bloom's father Sam was born in Poland, and his mother was of Sephardic background. He attended Hackney Downs School
Hackney Downs School
Hackney Downs School was a comprehensive secondary school, located near Hackney Downs off the A104 north of Hackney town centre, in the London Borough of Hackney.-Grocers' Company's School:...
. After leaving school aged 16, he tried a number of schemes before enlisting in the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
. Bloom was initially posted to No3 Radio School at RAF Compton Bassett
RAF Compton Bassett
RAF Compton Basset was an RAF base situated in Wiltshire, England.-Operational base:First opened as an air base in World War I, like RAF Yatesbury it continued operations in the interwar years before again taking on a major role in World War II...
near Calne
Calne
Calne is a town in Wiltshire, southwestern England. It is situated at the northwestern extremity of the North Wessex Downs hill range, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty....
, Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
for his training as a signalman. The local coach company Cards of Devizes
Devizes
Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The town is about southeast of Chippenham and about east of Trowbridge.Devizes serves as a centre for banks, solicitors and shops, with a large open market place where a market is held once a week...
provided contracted coaches to the RAF, which on a Saturday afternoon would take the airmen to London on their 36 hour passes. Bloom decided with a friend who ran a coach company in Stoke Newington
Stoke Newington
Stoke Newington is a district in the London Borough of Hackney. It is north-east of Charing Cross.-Boundaries:In modern terms, Stoke Newington can be roughly defined by the N16 postcode area . Its southern boundary with Dalston is quite ill-defined too...
that they could undercut the Card/RAF's coaches by half. When Cards took Bloom to court, the judge upheld Bloom with a declaration that became Bloom's motto: "It's no sin to make a profit." Bloom was later posted to Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an estate located in the town of Bletchley, in Buckinghamshire, England, which currently houses the National Museum of Computing...
and then managed to get a posting to Bush House
Bush House
Bush House is a building between Aldwych and The Strand in London at the southern end of Kingsway. The BBC World Service occupies the Centre Block, North East and South East wings. The North West wing was formerly occupied by BBC Online until they relocated to BBC Media Village in 2005, with some...
in the Aldwych
Aldwych
Aldwych is a place and road in the City of Westminster in London, England.-Description:Aldwych, the road, is a crescent, connected to the Strand at both ends. At its centre, it meets the Kingsway...
, on the grounds that his mother was unwell. She died several years later from a form of Multiple Sclerosis
Washing machines
After Bloom left the RAF, he originally worked as a salesman for a company selling DutchNetherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
-made washing-machines door-to-door
Door-to-door
Door-to-door is a sales technique in which a salesperson walks from the door of one house to the door of another trying to sell a product or service to the general public. A variant of this involves cold calling first, when another sales representative attempts to gain agreement that a salesperson...
. After a while Bloom started his own company and tried to buy machines from Holland. As Bloom had very little money or credit, many Dutch firms refused to manufacture for him. After eventually making a deal with a plant in Utrecht
Utrecht (city)
Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...
, Bloom formed his own company which advertised the "Electromatic" twin tub washer-spin dryer for 39 guineas - 50% below high street
High Street
High Street, or the High Street, is a metonym for the generic name of the primary business street of towns or cities, especially in the United Kingdom. It is usually a focal point for shops and retailers in city centres, and is most often used in reference to retailing...
retailers prices.
In 1958 Bloom placed an advert in the Daily Mirror offering home washing-machine demonstrations. Generating 7,000 responses via posted coupon responses, Blooms' unorthodox marketing and low prices meant that within a short time period he had taken 10% of the market from Hoover
The Hoover Company
The Hoover Company started out as an American floor care manufacturer based in North Canton, Ohio. It also established a major base in the United Kingdom and for most of the early-and-mid-20th century, it dominated the electric vacuum cleaner industry, to the point where the "hoover" brand name...
and Hotpoint
Hotpoint
The Hotpoint Electric Heating Company is a British brand of domestic appliances. The brand is currently fully owned by Italy's Indesit....
. Bloom's innovation was to sell the machines direct to the public via coupon advertising, at around half the cost of retailers
Shopping
Shopping is the examining of goods or services from retailers with the intent to purchase at that time. Shopping is an activity of selection and/or purchase. In some contexts it is considered a leisure activity as well as an economic one....
, also sold largely through affordable hire purchase
Hire purchase
Hire purchase is the legal term for a contract, in this persons usually agree to pay for goods in parts or a percentage at a time. It was developed in the United Kingdom and can now be found in China, Japan, Malaysia, India, South Africa, Australia, Jamaica and New Zealand. It is also called...
agreements.
By now selling 500 machines a week, Bloom calculated to cut overheads by manufacturing in Britain. Bloom cut a deal with the then moribund Rolls Razor Company to make 25,000 twin-tub washing machines, and later merged the two companies, becoming Managing Director with a majority share of the companies stock. In early 1962 Bloom, formed an alliance with the Colston dishwasher company, and expanded into dishwasher
Dishwasher
A dishwasher is a mechanical device for cleaning dishes and eating utensils. Dishwashers can be found in restaurants and private homes.Unlike manual dishwashing, which relies largely on physical scrubbing to remove soiling, the mechanical dishwasher cleans by spraying hot water, typically between ...
s,and in 1963 took over sales of the famous Prestcold Refrigerator business immediately cutting the prices by half from those that had been sold by retail outlets. This was followed by, rental TVs
Television set
A television set is a device that combines a tuner, display, and speakers for the purpose of viewing television. Television sets became a popular consumer product after the Second World War, using vacuum tubes and cathode ray tube displays...
trading stamps - and latterly Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n holidays a 2 week all in holiday was just 59 pounds once again cutting out retailers as he signed an exclusive deal to market Bulgaria in the U.K. "Bloom had achieved fame and fortune selling cheap In the 1950’s washing machines were expensive and John Bloom sold them cheap. The idea was that the more he had made, the less they would cost him and the less he could charge. Still not cheap enough? Offer a really cheap one then get your salesman to switch-sell to one a little more expensive. Obviously, the alternative of service-guarantees wasn’t available in the 50’s. Within seven years, John had run out of millions of people to buy his machines and had gone bust, but not before he’d started another get-rich-quick scheme. Cheap holidays for the masses. In Bulgaria.
Here’s how it worked. The Bulgarian Black Sea coast was warm and sunny and littered with modern functional hotels. Why? Because Bulgaria was a communist country and part of the Soviet bloc. Communist organizations sent their best workers on holiday, not to Spain, naturally, because Spain cost hard currency. Holidaying at home, or near to it was better, and cheaper. Bulgaria was the worker’s choice.
But, Bulgaria wanted to buy nice, expensive western things and didn’t have any nice expensive western money to buy them with. There were two alternatives – barter – you get some Bulgarian wine and we get some jeans, and sales for hard currency direct (we don’t care how much as long as it’s hard). Enter J. Bloom you sell me hotel accommodation and food, I’ll bring you millions of clients that you can proselytise at and, I’ll give you loads (well, some) hard, very hard, western currency. Don’t forget John Bloom was a salesman, so he wouldn’t forget to sell the Bulgarians the "Benefits" rather than just the "Features". So, he’d have said " Our holidaymakers will Love Bulgaria and they’ll have a wonderful time. So, they’ll go home and tell all their friends how beautiful Bulgaria is, how good Bulgarian food is and how fantastic Bulgarian wine is. They’ll love you all and they’ll buy your food and wine and holidays. You’ll be made – and popular!"
The Bulgarians fell for it, and soon Zlatni Pyassatsi was "Sunny Beach", Slunchev Bryag" was "Golden Sands" and Drouzhba and Varna were Drouzhba and Varna. The state airline, the aptly named TABSO was contracted for flights from the UK. Holidaymakers in their thousands piled in at £59 for two weeks full board and all the yoghourt you could eat. Then Rolls Razor went bust.
As far as the Bulgarians were concerned, this was a disaster, they liked this game – hard currency for nothing that cost them anything, and good PR. It was great, and they didn’t want it to stop. Luckily, the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society came to the rescue and, with Balkantourist, the Bulgarian state-owned tourist organization, formed Balkan Holidays to satisfy the demand for Bulgarian holidays created by Mr Bloom." 8*
The company listed on the London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
in mid-1962, at $3.50, with the price doubling in weeks. By the end of 1963, the marketed Rolls-Colston company was selling over 200,000 machines a year.
Personal excess
Bloom's business expanded rapidly, relying on the most aggressive marketing campaign of his time.(In 1963 Bloom was the largest press advertiser in the United Kingdom** )The campaign made Bloom a household name in the country during the opening years of the 1960s - After appearing in a famous debate on "This Was The Week That Was" in November 1963 against Bernard Levin, The Sunday Telegraph and the main media reported that "Bloom was a head on victor and it was the first time Bernard Levin had been worsted in a debate" with Bloom positioning himself as a friend of the housewife, pal of the working man, scourge of the City, enemy of the Establishment, and Resale Price Maintenance. "Bloom with his youth his daring and relentless salesmanship, a symbol of bold free enterprise became a figure of folk lore to be loved or hated"*The listing of Rolls Razor made Bloom a millionaire
Millionaire
A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. It can also be a person who owns one million units of currency in a bank account or savings account...
, and along with his black Rolls Royce Phantom
Rolls-Royce Phantom V
The Phantom V was a large, ultra-exclusive four-door saloon made by Rolls-Royce from 1959 to 1968.Based on the Silver Cloud II, it shared a V8 engine and General Motors Hydramatic automatic gearbox with its smaller sibling. Rolls-Royce assembled the cars' chassis and drivetrains with bodies made to...
he married Anne, in 1961. Bloom bought a Park Lane
Park Lane (road)
Park Lane is a major road in the City of Westminster, in Central London.-History:Originally a country lane running north-south along what is now the eastern boundary of Hyde Park, it became a fashionable residential address from the eighteenth century onwards, offering both views across Hyde Park...
apartment, a French Riviera
French Riviera
The Côte d'Azur, pronounced , often known in English as the French Riviera , is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France, also including the sovereign state of Monaco...
villa, and the 376-ton 150 foot motor yacht Ariane for $1,000,000. Famous for his social connections,and parties attended by celebrities and politicians alike, The Beatles, Shirley Bassey, Peter Ustinov, Adam Faith and David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
credits Bloom as being central to his first record deal, when the then-unknown singer was invited to play at a party in Bloom's Park Lane flat, and subsequently introduced to an agent. Bloom was the first commercial sponsor in May 1963 of the Royal Windsor Horse Show
Royal Windsor Horse Show
The Royal Windsor Horse Show is a horse show held annually since 1943 for five days in May or June in Windsor Home Park....
,and on 18 March 1964 in the House of Lords Lord Balfour Of Inchrne called then Prime Minister Harold Wilson " A real super salesman the John Bloom of political life"
Bloom had a lover in 1962, 18 year old Christine Hughes who was the wife of Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
's "Blue Gardenia Club" Harvey Holford. After Hughes returned from a tryst with Bloom, Holford shot Hughes five times and was found lying by her body. On 29 March 1963 Holford was found guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of provocation and diminished responsibility, and sentenced to three years imprisonment.
Collapse
But the retailers and UK manufacturers were unhappy with Blooms direct sales methods of cutting out the retailer, his 2 for one schemes giving a free refrigerator when you bought a washing machine, and his efforts to abolish Resale Price Maintenance, which would have meant that factory fixed retail pricing would be abolished for all products, so they reduced their prices considerably to create the so-called Washing Machine War, between direct sales and retailers. Bloom was forced to increase his advertising costs just as sales began to fall, and was then hit by the 11 week 1964 postal strike which resulted in coupon returns drying up. Receipts from Rolls's customers hire-purchase agreements were underwritten by banker Sir Isaac WolfsonIsaac Wolfson
Sir Isaac Wolfson, 1st Baronet FRS was a businessman and philanthropist. He was managing director of Great Universal Stores 1932-1947 and chairman 1947-1987. He established the Wolfson Foundation to distribute most of his fortune to good causes. Great Universal Stores was a mail order business...
, who by mid-1964 had bankrolled Bloom with a $28 million loan. Spotting trouble, Sir Isaac withdrew his support and sped the downfall. With Bloom suspected of malpractice
Malpractice
In law, malpractice is a type of negligence in, which the professional under a duty to act, fails to follow generally accepted professional standards, and that breach of duty is the proximate cause of injury to a plaintiff who suffers harm...
, the companies shares were suspended at $0.15 in mid-July 1964, before the company announced it would be placed into voluntary liquidation
Liquidation
In law, liquidation is the process by which a company is brought to an end, and the assets and property of the company redistributed. Liquidation is also sometimes referred to as winding-up or dissolution, although dissolution technically refers to the last stage of liquidation...
.
After the collapse there were many recriminations, but The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
said at the time:
"If the British economy is not sufficiently competitive wrote Harold Wincott in the Financial Times, if established industry is too solidly wedded to price maintenance, we need more John Blooms not fewer of them" and in a provocative letter to The Times Ralph Harris Director of the Institute of Economic Affairs wrote " Mr. Bloom has already done more for economic growth in Britain than many of its verbal champions in NEDC and Elsewhere"
Later life
Since being made bankrupt in 1969 ], little was heard of Bloom until 1972. He remains married to his wife Anne, mother of his two children. He published his own book It's no sin to make a profit in 1971. In 1972 Bloom started a medieval restaurant in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
called 1520 A.D.,as quoted in Time magazine Good evening. For tonight you are back in 1520 A.D., where women are second-class citizens." With that greeting male customers are ushered into the 1520 A.D. restaurant in Anaheim, Calif., where Old English fantasy, audience participation and a big helping of unabashed male chauvinism are on the menu. Women are ordered to walk six paces behind their escorts into the paneled banquet hall, where spoons are used for banging on tables, and the diners themselves play leading roles in an outlandish floor show.
Others in the cast of characters include a juggler, a man dressed in a bear costume who periodically chases a fleeing damsel around the room, and a bevy of "pinchable wenches" who wait on tables—and dance on them too. Presiding over all is a reincarnated Henry VIII, brought back to life at the boisterous age of 29. When the King enters the room, diners are expected to drop their forks and snap to attention. When he raises his tankard and exclaims "All hail," the guests are expected to return the toast, "Wassail." When his jester leads a chorus of the King's favorite ditty, Immorality Forever, woe to the bloke who fails to sing along.
"I am told someone thinks his soup is more important than singing," bellows the King's henchman if a nonsinger is detected. "He who does not sing goes to the stocks, and we encourage bread to be thrown at him." Without further encouragement, the customers begin beating their spoons on tables and chanting, "Stocks, stocks" and the hapless miscreant, man or woman, is unceremoniously clapped in a pillory and pelted with wads of bread by his fellow diners. As a consolation, the prisoner may also receive spontaneous—and sympathetic—kisses from other diners.
"It's like mass group therapy," says John Bloom, the 1520s creator, in explaining why people spend $7.95 for the privileges of eating a mediocre meal and taking part in the far-out activities. "This is a place where people can release their inhibitions. It's all in fun and we don't let it get out of hand." )
A fast-talking Englishman, now 40, who made and lost a fortune selling washing machines, Bloom had been struck by Comic Don Rickles' ability to insult Las Vegas audiences and make them love it. Audience participation, he decided, could spark interest in the little-known medieval restaurant he had opened in London. The serendipitous broadcast of The Six Wives of Henry VIII on British television provided some free publicity, and after Bloom added the nonstop entertainment, the prototype 1520 became a success.
The Anaheim version of the restaurant shamelessly mixes old English songs with choruses of I've Been Working on the Railroad and The Star Spangled Banner. But despite the anachronisms and some complaints from outraged feminists and men who did not like the way their dates were manhandled in the stocks, the 1520 has been packing them in since it opened three months ago. Bloom and his associate, Writer Daud Alani, have already opened a second branch in Los Angeles and plan to go nationwide next year. They hope to make a profit while they can, for there is an obvious limit to the amount of repeat business the 1520s will do. "You could not come here every night," says Bloom. "You could not stand the strain." (7) From 1972 to 1978 1520 AD opened in leading hotels in major U:S cities, the Business ceased operations in 1979, Bloom moved to Mallorca where he later opened a Piano Bar which he eventually sold to his partners.Since then he has been involved as a consultant for multi national companies,and in Corporate Hospitality and sponsorship