James Hull is a British

dentist A dentist, also known as a dental doctor, dental physician, dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry, the branch of medicine focused on the teeth, gums, and mouth. The dentist's supporting team aids in provi ...

and

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

, who owned UK's largest and one of the world's biggest private car collections.

James Hull Associates

Hull opened his first dental practice in 1987 in

Gwent Gwent may refer to: Places *Kingdom of Gwent, a post-Roman Welsh kingdom or principality which existed in various forms between about the 5th and 11th centuries, although the name continued in use later *Gwent (preserved county), a preserved count ...

, Wales. James Hull Associates presently has over 50 dental practices in the UK, which mainly specialise in cosmetic dentistry. After private equity firm

Hutton Collins Hutton Collins Partners is a London-based private equity firm founded in 2002 by Graham Hutton and Matthew Collins, who are both partners in the firm. The generalist investor aims at mid-size Western European, and especially Spanish, French and It ...

bought a 40% stake in the business in 2006, valuing it at about £90m, Hull and two fellow directors stepped down from the business's board in 2008 after the group made a loss of £8.7M. Irish businessman Emmet O Neill's Smiles dentistry group bought JHA in late 2012.

Personal life

Hull, who lives in

Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End. ...

, west London, has battled

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

three times. He enjoys playing

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

and

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

. In May 2014, Hull emerged as the owner of one of the world's biggest private car collections, by putting the entire collection up for sale for £100M. The collection of 543

classic car A classic car is typically described as an automobile 25 years or older, although a car's age is not the only requirement it must meet before being considered a "classic." However, a standard criteria for recognizing cars as classics does not ex ...

s, ranging from multi-million pound Jaguars including a XKSS through to a

Morris Minor The Morris Minor is an economy car produced by British marque Morris Motors between 1948 and 1971. It made its debut at the Earls Court Motor Show, London, in October 1948. Designed under the leadership of Alec Issigonis, more than 1.6 ...

, also includes:

Lord Mountbatten Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy), Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (born Prince Louis of Battenberg; 25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979), commonly known as Lord Mountbatten, was ...

's Mini Traveller;

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

's Austin;

Mike Hailwood Stanley Michael Bailey Hailwood (2 April 1940 – 23 March 1981) was a British racing driver and motorcycle road racer, who competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing from to , and Formula One between and . Nicknamed "the Bike", Hailwood was ...

's 1961

Jaguar E-Type The Jaguar E-Type, or the Jaguar XK-E for the North American market, is a British FMR layout, front mid-engined sports car that was manufactured by Jaguar Cars, Jaguar Cars Ltd from 1961 to 1974. Its sleek appearance, advanced technologies, ...

; and a

Bentley Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of Luxury vehicle, luxury cars and Sport utility vehicle, SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Crickle ...

formerly owned by

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

. In July 2014 his collection was sold to

Jaguar Land Rover Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC is the holding company of Jaguar Land Rover, also known as JLR, and is a British multinational automobile manufacturer which produces luxury vehicles and SUVs and has its head office in Whitley, Coventry, Unite ...

for an undisclosed sum. Sixteen of the cars were put on show at

Heritage Motor Centre The British Motor Museum in Gaydon, Warwickshire, England holds the world's largest collection of historic British cars, with over 300 cars on display from the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust and the Jaguar Heritage Trust. History The c ...

, Gaydon, Warwickshire from November 2014.

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people British dentists British businesspeople British car collectors {{UK-business-bio-stub