Peter James Boizot

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(; 16 November 1929 – 5 December 2018) was an English

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

, restaurateur,

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

, art collector and philanthropist. He is best known as the founder of

PizzaExpress PizzaExpress is a British multinational restaurant group, owned by a group of bondholders. It has over 470 restaurants across the United Kingdom and 100 overseas in Europe, Hong Kong, China, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, the Philippines, the Unite ...

Early years

The son of Gaston and Susannah Boizot, he was born, educated and lived in

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

, England. In his childhood he stopped eating meat, and he remained a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetariani ...

Education

Boizot attended The King's School, Peterborough where he was head boy and sang in the choir of

Peterborough Cathedral Peterborough Cathedral, properly the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew – also known as Saint Peter's Cathedral in the United Kingdom – is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Peterborough, dedicated to Saint Peter, Saint Pau ...

. In 1953, Boizot earned an Honours Degree in History at St Catharine's College, Cambridge. Boizot received an Honorary Degree at Loughborough University in 2000 in recognition of his successful business acumen and career, and his contributions to Peterborough.

PizzaExpress

Boizot founded

in 1965, after having worked in Europe for ten years and noticing that he was unable to eat an authentic pizza slice in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Boizot floated PizzaExpress on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...

in 1993 but remained president. His first restaurant opened in

Wardour Street Wardour Street () is a street in Soho, City of Westminster, London. It is a one-way street that runs north from Leicester Square, through Chinatown, across Shaftesbury Avenue to Oxford Street. Throughout the 20th century the street became a ...

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develo ...

, London, to much acclaim, with a second PizzaExpress opening in 1967. He was also the first to import Peroni into the UK. Boizot's empire grew quickly because of its authentic Italian taste and unique artistic approach.

Politics

Boizot was an active supporter of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

. He twice stood as the Liberal candidate for

at the general elections of February and October 1974.

Charity

Peter Boizot Sports Ground, Grantchester Road - geograph

In 1977, Boizot created the Veneziana pizza in his PizzaExpress restaurant to gain attention to and raise funds for Venice in Peril. 5p from each Veneziana pizza sold would be donated to the charity, a charity set up to raise funds to restore and conserve works of art and architecture in Venice. This charity initiative still exists at all PizzaExpress restaurants, but the amount donated has increased to 25p from each pizza. Boizot's efforts have raised over £2,000,000 to date. For his Venice in Peril charity efforts, in 1996, Boizot was appointed a Knight Commander of the

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic ( it, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) is the senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking ...

. He was a generous benefactor of St Catharine's College and the Peter Boizot Sports Ground on Grantchester Road,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

, was named in his honour. Boizot was awarded the

"for political and public service" in the 1986 Birthday Honours.

Peterborough

Boizot was locally renowned as 'Mr Peterborough' because of the work and funds that he put back into his hometown of

. He purchased and then modernised his favourite local haunt, the Great Northern Hotel in 1993. In 1997 he bought the ailing Peterborough United Football Club and invested £5 million into its resurrection. Boizot acquired the former Odeon cinema building in 1996 and transformed it into a multi-purpose entertainment venue complete with theatre, concert and conference rooms.

Jazz

Boizot was an avid jazz fan. He opened his first jazz club, the PizzaExpress Jazz Club in London's Soho district in 1969, whilst founding the Soho Jazz Festival in 1986. He then opened other PizzaExpress Jazz Clubs across the UK. These jazz clubs have played host to greats such as

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...

Jamie Cullum Jamie Cullum (born 20 August 1979) is an English jazz-pop singer, songwriter and radio presenter. Although primarily a vocalist and pianist, he also accompanies himself on other instruments, including guitar and drums. He has recorded nine stu ...

, Sting,

Amy Winehouse Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz. A membe ...

and

Norah Jones Norah Jones (born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. She has won several awards for her music and as of 2012, has sold more than 50 million records worldwide. ''Billboard'' named her the ...

Art

Boizot began collecting art from an early age and incorporated art into many of his ventures. At

and the jazz clubs, he commissioned pop artists such as Sir Peter Blake,

Eduardo Paolozzi Sir Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi (, ; 7 March 1924 – 22 April 2005) was a Scottish artist, known for his sculpture and graphic works. He is widely considered to be one of the pioneers of pop art. Early years Eduardo Paolozzi was born on 7 March ...

and Enzo Apicella to fill the walls of the establishments. In 2004, St Catharine's College in Cambridge presented Boizot with a portrait by artist Suresh Patel in recognition of his contribution to the University. In 2011, Boizot sold the majority of his art collection near his hometown of Peterborough. He worked with restaurant designer Enzo Apicella, who has been credited with being the visual architect of PizzaExpress.

Book

At the age of 84, Boizot turned his life story into the 2014 autobiography ''Mr Pizza and All That Jazz''. The work, which was written with

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

Matthew Reville, received positive reviews.

Death

Boizot died on 5 December 2018 at the age of 89. He was survived by his sister, Clementine Allen.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boizot, Peter 1929 births 2018 deaths Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge British restaurateurs People from Peterborough Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Members of the Order of the British Empire People educated at The King's School, Peterborough Peterborough United F.C.