Our founder Malcolm Naish prefaces the obituary of a longtime friend.
“It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Sir Torquil Norman CBE.
I first met Sir Norman in the early seventies. He had previously worked as an Investment Banker in the USA, returning to the UK in the sixties and subsequently joined Berwick Timpo Toys in 1973 as their chief executive.
Sir Torquil joined the Fence Club in 1986 and was chairman in 1997/98. He would have been 92 in a couple of weeks on the 11th April. He was married to Lady Elizabeth Ann Montagu, the daughter of Victor Montagu, 10th Earl of Sandwich. Anne as she preferred passed in 2008.
They have five children, including Conservative Party MP Jesse Norman, artist Amy Sharracks, inventor Casey Norman – who joined his father in the toy business plus 10 grandchildren.
In 1980, he founded Bluebird Toys, makers of the Big Yellow Teapot, the Big Red Fun Bus, and the hugely successful Polly Pocket line.”
A long-term Camden resident, Torquil bought the derelict Roundhouse arts venue in Chalk Farm “as an impulse buy”, having read it was proposed to turn it into a museum.
As founder and chairman of the Roundhouse Trust he then raised significant funds from public and private sources, including his own funds, to restore the Victorian former railway repair shed, which had been a major arts venue in the 1960s and ’70s. The restored Roundhouse reopened in June 2006 as a 1700 seat performance space, with a state-of-the-art creative centre for young people. It was soon the base for a major season by the Royal Shakespeare Company, played host to regular big-name rock concerts, and by 2008 had involved over 12,000 teenagers in creative arts projects.
“As founder and chairman of the Roundhouse Trust he then raised significant funds from public and private sources, including his own funds, to restore the Victorian former railway repair shed, which had been a major arts venue in the 1960s and ’70s”
Torquil, who was previously appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, stepped down as chairman of the Roundhouse Trust in 2000, and was knighted the same year for his “services to the arts and to disadvantaged young people.”In 2007, he won the Beacon Fellowship Prize for his work with young people through the Roundhouse Trust.
A collector of classic aeroplanes, Torquil wrote an account of flying a DH Leopard Moth across the Atlantic. In 1995 Sir Torquil, along with a friend, undertook a long-distance flight in a light aircraft, culminating in their East-West trans-Atlantic flight in a 59-year-old De Havilland Dragonfly, with both of them being awarded the Certificate of Merit by the Royal Aero Club.
In 2010 Sir Torquil published a book Kick the Tyres, Light the Fires: One Man’s Vision for Britain’s Future and How We Can Make it Work, recounting the work involved in the Camden Roundhouse project.
Many of you will fondly remember ‘Torkie’s’ endless hilarious stories, equally endless shenanigans, and unique sense of humour.
Sir Torquil Norman CBE will be missed by his friends, family, and the industry.
As yet details of his funeral are still to be announced.
