Gulam Kaderbhoy Noon, Baron Noon, (24 January 1936 – 27 October 2015) was a British businessman originally from

Mumbai, India Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

. Known as the "Curry King", Noon operated a number of food product companies in

Southall Southall () is a large suburban county of West London, England, part of the London Borough of Ealing and is one of its seven major towns. It is situated west of Charing Cross and had a population of 69,857 as of 2011. It is generally divided ...

, London. He was a member of the

Dawoodi Bohra The Dawoodi Bohras are a religious denomination within the Ismā'īlī branch of Shia Islam. Their largest numbers reside in India, Pakistan, Yemen, East Africa, and the Middle East, with a growing presence across Europe, North America, South ...

Ismaili Shia community.

Early life

Noon was born in 1936, into a

Muslim family which operated a sweet shop in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. His father died when he was 7, and a relative ran the business until Noon took over its management at the age of 17. He renamed the shop "Royal Sweets", and expanded its clientele and size until it was capable of exporting internationally. In 1964, Noon travelled to Britain and emigrated permanently in 1972. He established a sweet shop in Southall, producing such products as

Bombay mix Bombay mix is an Indian snack mix (namkeen) which consists of a variable mixture of spicy dried ingredients, such as fried lentils, peanuts, chickpeas, chickpea flour ganthiya, corn, vegetable oil, puffed rice, fried onion and curry leaves. Thi ...

Career

Noon founded and operated a number of food product companies in

, London, specialising in Indian cuisine. His main business was Noon Products which he established in September 1987, manufacturing chilled and frozen Indian and Thai ready meals, predominantly for UK supermarkets. Though he did not invent the dish, Noon is credited with the popularity of

chicken tikka masala Chicken tikka masala is a South Asian dish consisting of roasted marinated chicken chunks ( chicken tikka) in a spiced sauce. The sauce is usually creamy and orange-coloured. The dish was popularised by cooks from South Asia living in Great B ...

in Britain. In 1994, the company experienced a serious factory fire which destroyed much of its manufacturing capability, but within ten weeks the company began selling its products again. Noon kept all his staff in employment during this period. In 2005, Noon Products was taken over by Irish food conglomerate

Kerry Group Kerry Group plc is a public food company headquartered in Ireland. It is quoted on the Dublin ISEQ and London stock exchanges. Given the company's origins in the co-operative movement, farmer-suppliers of the company retain a significant int ...

Other interests

In March 2006 he came to wider notice as one of the businessmen embroiled in the "

Cash for Peerages The Cash-for-Honours scandal (also known as Cash for Peerages, Loans for Lordships, Loans for Honours or Loans for Peerages) was a political scandal in the United Kingdom in 2006 and 2007 concerning the connection between political donations an ...

" scandal when it emerged that he had loaned £250,000 to the Labour Party. He was given an MBE for services to the food industry in 1994 (under a Conservative government) and

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in 2002. Labour MP

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...

said that awarding knighthoods to party donors, like Noon, would devalue the whole honours system. In 2010, Noon was invited to become one of the Labour Party's assistant treasurers, a fund-raising role. He told ''The Guardian'': "I have always been a Labour supporter and wanted to ensure that Gordon Brown was given an opportunity to finish off the job that we started under Blair so I accepted heinvitation". Noon was a declared backer of the

Britain in Europe Until August 2005, Britain in Europe was the main British pro-European pressure group. Despite connections to Labour and the Liberal Democrats, it was a cross-party organisation with supporters from many different political backgrounds. Initia ...

group, a

pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Polit ...

pressure group Advocacy groups, also known as interest groups, special interest groups, lobbying groups or pressure groups use various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and ultimately policy. They play an important role in the develop ...

. He was a

trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to t ...

of the

Maimonides Foundation The Khalili Foundation is a UK-based charity promoting interfaith and intercultural understanding through art, culture and education. Its founder and chairman is the London-based philanthropist, art collector and scholar Sir David Khalili. A Per ...

, a charitable organisation promoting dialogue between

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

s and

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

Personal life

A castaway on the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

programme ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usu ...

'' in 2004, in ''The Sunday Times'' Rich List 2006 he was placed in 888th position with an estimated fortune of £65 million. He died of cancer on 27 October 2015.

Views on extremist imams

Noon was among those trapped in the

Taj Mahal Palace Hotel The Taj Mahal Palace is a heritage, five-star, luxury hotel in the Colaba area of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, situated next to the Gateway of India. Built in the Saracenic Revival style, it opened in 1903 as the Taj Mahal Hotel and has histor ...

by terrorists during the

November 2008 Mumbai attacks The 2008 Mumbai attacks (also referred to as 26/11, pronounced "twenty six eleven") were a series of terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamist terrorist organisation from Pakistan, c ...

, but was rescued and later appeared on BBC News to describe his experiences. He subsequently praised the response by India's

Muslim community ' (; ar, أمة ) is an Arabic word meaning "community". It is distinguished from ' ( ), which means a nation with common ancestry or geography. Thus, it can be said to be a supra-national community with a common history. It is a synonym for ' ...

to the attacks, saying: He also called for Britain to toughen measures against extremist Muslim preachers, and said that the door was open for foreign

imam Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, ser ...

s to radicalise young Muslims in mosques across Britain:

Honours

Noon was made a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

1996 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1996 were appointments by most of the sixteen Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other co ...

. He was later made a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are the ...

in the

2002 Birthday Honours Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in supp ...

, having the honour conferred in December that year. He was awarded an Honorary Degree from the

University of East London , mottoeng = Knowledge and the fulfilment of vows , established = 1898 – West Ham Technical Institute1952 – West Ham College of Technology1970 – North East London Polytechnic1989 – Polytechnic of East London ...

on 12 November 2009. In January 2013, Lord Noon was appointed as the chancellor of that institution. In this titular position, he presided over the degree ceremonies. On 27 January 2011, he was created a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

as Baron Noon, of

St John's Wood St John's Wood is a district in the City of Westminster, London, lying 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Traditionally the northern part of the ancient parish and Metropolitan Borough of Marylebone, it extends east to west from ...

in the

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London borough in Inner London. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the area of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and St ...

and was introduced in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

on 31 January 2011, where he sat on the Labour benches. On 26 April 2012, Noon was made a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of Birkbeck, a constituent college of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

Books

* ''Noon, with a View: Courage and Integrity'' (2009)

References

External links

Biography at Noon Products websiteSummary of ''Desert Island Discs'' appearance
{{DEFAULTSORT:Noon, Gulam 1936 births 2015 deaths British businesspeople Dawoodi Bohras Indian Ismailis British Ismailis English Muslims Indian Muslims Indian emigrants to England Businesspeople from Mumbai Knights Bachelor Members of the Order of the British Empire Labour Party (UK) life peers Life peers created by Elizabeth II People associated with the University of East London British politicians of Indian descent Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Labour Party (UK) donors Survivors of the 2008 Mumbai attacks