Nationality English Name Ernest Hall | Role Businessman | |
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Occupation Entrepreneur and musician Books How to Be a Failure and Succeed | ||
Sir Ernest Hall, OBE, is an English businessman, known for his restoration of Dean Clough Mills, Halifax. Late in life, became a professional pianist.
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Early life and education
Hall was born in Lancashire, England in 1930.
Career
Hall made his first fortune in textiles. He then sold real estate through the Mountleigh Group. In 1983 Hall sold his company for ₤40 million and then invested ₤20 million in the Dean Clough former carpet factory site. In 1983 he led a consortium which purchased a disused carpet mill complex, Dean Clough Mills, and converted it into an arts, business, design and education complex. While in his 70s, he recorded the complete piano works of Frédéric Chopin.
Show business
He appeared as a "castaway" on the BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs on 26 April 1998, and on the Radio 3 programme Private Passions on 18 September 2005.
Residence
Hall has homes in Lanzarote and in France.
Autobiography
His autobiography, How to Be A Failure and Succeed, was published in 2008.
Personal
In 2009, he revealed that he was in a romantic relationship with his long-time friend, the cookery writer Prue Leith.