Christopher Matthews (6 August 2004) was a British businessman, principally in internet services and dating agencies. He died in a helicopter crash in Wisconsin in August 2004. Matthews, the son of a statistician, was born in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

. After education at St John's School, Leatherhead,

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, he gained a degree in engineering and then went on to work for the

Marconi Company The Marconi Company was a British telecommunications and engineering company founded by Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi in 1897 which was a pioneer of wireless long distance communication and mass media broadcasting, eventually becoming on ...

and for the

Courtaulds Courtaulds was a United Kingdom-based manufacturer of fabric, clothing, artificial fibres, and chemicals. It was established in 1794 and became the world's leading man-made fibre production company before being broken up in 1990 into Courtauld ...

Group. In 1992 from a base in

Macclesfield Macclesfield () is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east; the town lies south of Ma ...

, Cheshire, Matthews founded Club Sirius, a dating agency for single professionals, which quickly became very profitable. He later acquired Dateline and others which were combined into the OneSaturday Group. Although Matthews sold OneSaturday shortly before his death, most of his wealth came from internet service company Telinco, which he sold for £250 million to World Online in 2000, shortly before the Dot-com crash. Other ventures included aviation company Cav-Air of

Fort Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it ...

, Florida, and boatyard Seastream in

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

, England. From 1998 Matthews lived as a tax exile on his yacht ''Tosca III'' in the Mediterranean and Caribbean. In 2001 Seastream purchased the former Irish naval patrol boat ''

Deirdre Deirdre ( , ; ) is a tragic heroine in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. She is also known by the epithet "Deirdre of the Sorrows" (). Deirdre is a prominent figure in Irish legend. American scholar James MacKillop (author), James MacKil ...

'' for conversion to a large yacht, renaming her ''Tosca IV''. Following Matthews' death the part-converted vessel was sold. He was married to Marie-France, with whom he had three of his four children. Piloting an EC130 helicopter registered N450CM, Matthews died aged 54, along with his aide Jim Beauregard, when it crashed at Sauk Prairie after hitting power lines over

Lake Wisconsin Lake Wisconsin is a reservoir on the Wisconsin River in southern Wisconsin in the United States. It is located in Columbia and Sauk counties, approximately southeast of Baraboo and NNW of Madison. The area around the lake is home to the Wis ...

on 6 August 2004. The subsequent investigation found that the helicopter was being flown inexplicably low.

References

External links

Interview with Christopher Matthews, 2003
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Christopher 2004 deaths Accidental deaths in Wisconsin Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States English businesspeople People educated at St John's School, Leatherhead People from Cheshire Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 2004 Year of birth uncertain Victims of helicopter accidents or incidents in the United States