William Geoffrey Thompson OBE (16 November 1936 – 12 June 2004)Kenneth Shenton (19 June 2004
The Independent: Geoffrey Thompson obituary
The Independent was a British businessman who was the managing director and owner of

Blackpool Pleasure Beach Blackpool Pleasure Beach is an amusement park situated on Blackpool's South Shore, in the county of Lancashire, North West England. It operates as a secure facility, and has introduced epayments via smartphones for admission charges, replacin ...

Pleasureland Southport Southport Pleasureland is an amusement park located in Southport, Merseyside, England. The park originally operated from 1913 to 2006 as Pleasureland Theme Park under the ownership of the Blackpool Pleasure Beach company. In 2007, the park re-o ...

and

Frontierland, Morecambe Frontierland Western Theme Park was a theme park in Morecambe, Lancashire, England, situated on Marine Road West, which operated from 1906 to 7 November 1999, with a final year consisting of only travelling rides in 2000. Frontierland originally ...

. He rose to his position in 1976 after the death of his father, Leonard Thompson.

Career

Geoffrey Thompson was appointed managing director of Blackpool Pleasure Beach in 1976, following the death of his father. During his tenure, he bought two separate amusement parks,

and

. The latter of which he closed down in 2000. He invested heavily into the Pleasure Beach during his time, opening the

Steeplechase Steeplechase may refer to: * Steeplechase (horse racing), a type of horse race in which participants are required to jump over obstacles * Steeplechase (athletics), an event in athletics that derives its name from the steeplechase in horse racing ...

Avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and earth ...

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

, Big One, Ice Blast: The Ride and

Valhalla In Norse mythology Valhalla (;) is the anglicised name for non, Valhǫll ("hall of the slain").Orchard (1997:171–172) It is described as a majestic hall located in Asgard and presided over by the god Odin. Half of those who die in combat e ...

. Like his father, he had a good relationship with

Arrow Dynamics Arrow Dynamics was an American manufacturing and engineering company that specialized in designing and building amusement park rides, especially roller coasters. Based in Clearfield, Utah, the company was the successor to Arrow Development (194 ...

with them building many of Pleasure Beach's rides until they went bankrupt in 2002. He sat on a number of trade agencies, such as the English Tourist Board and the British Association of Leisure Parks, Piers and Attractions, and was appointed an OBE for this work. In 1986, Pleasure Beach became one of the first companies in the UK to register with the Government Profit Related Pay Unit. Under this scheme the company agreed that, where profits exceeded £1 million, 10% would be distributed among the permanent staff according to their length of service. Geoffrey was often in dispute with Blackpool Council over their decision to allow private traders to use land opposite the Pleasure Beach. He won his appeal to clear the land of all trading attractions and the Pleasure Beach has remained unaffected by the situation.

Major installations

During his tenure, many major attractions were built at the Pleasure Beach.

Personal life

Thompson married Barbara Foxcroft in 1962, and had three children;

Amanda Amanda is a Latin feminine gerundive (i.e. verbal adjective) name meaning, literally, “she who must (or is fit to) be loved”. Other translations, with similar meaning, could be "deserving to be loved," "worthy of love," or "loved very much b ...

Nick Nick may refer to: * Nick (given name) * A cricket term for a slight deviation of the ball off the edge of the bat * British slang for being arrested * British slang for a police station * British slang for stealing * Short for nickname Place ...

and Fiona. He was awarded an OBE in the 1997 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours.Independent (31 December 1997
The Independent: New Year Honours: The Prime Minister's List
The Independent

Education

Thompson attended Arnold Junior School and

Rossall School Rossall School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for 0–18 year olds, between Cleveleys and Fleetwood, Lancashire. Rossall was founded in 1844 by St Vincent Beechey as a sister school to Marlborough College ...

, before moving to Shrewsbury. He later read Economics at

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refounded ...

. After graduating, he moved to America to broaden his education, studying Business Administration at

Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a Private university, private Ivy League rese ...

Death

Thompson died at Blackpool Pleasure Beach on 12 June 2004, while attending his daughter Amanda's wedding. He left Blackpool Pleasure Beach to Amanda. Before his death, he was quoted as telling her: "If you don’t think you’re strong enough to run the business then you’re not the person I thought you were."Anna Pukas (30 April 2009
Express: Thompson 'I'll save Britain's tourist industry'
Express Last Resting Place of William Geoffrey Thompson

Last Resting Place of William Geoffrey Thompson

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Geoffrey 1936 births Blackpool Pleasure Beach 2004 deaths Officers of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century English businesspeople