Sir John Michael Middlecott Banham (22 August 1940 – 9 August 2022) was a British businessman. He was the chairman of the major brewer

Whitbread Whitbread plc is a multinational British hotel and restaurant company headquartered in Houghton Regis, England. The business was founded as a brewery in 1742, and had become the largest brewery in the world by the 1780s. Its largest division ...

from 2000 to 2005, and also chairman of ECI Ventures and

Johnson Matthey Johnson Matthey is a British multinational speciality chemicals and sustainable technologies company headquartered in London, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History Early years Jo ...

Biography

Banham was born on 22 August 1940,"Birthdays", ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', 22 August 1994 (Banham was 54 on this date) and raised in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, where his father worked as a surgeon and his mother as a

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

(NHS) administrator, and was educated at Charterhouse School, and Queens' College, Cambridge, where he gained a first class degree in Natural Sciences.Cope, Nigel (2001)
Sir John Banham: Is this the most confident man in Britain?
, ''

'', 4 June 2001, retrieved 1 February 2010 He worked at the Foreign Office for two years before moving to Reed International and then McKinsey and Co. Banham was an avid sailor, participating in the

1979 Fastnet race The 1979 Fastnet Race was the 28th Royal Ocean Racing Club's Fastnet Race, a yachting race held generally every two years since 1925 on a 605-mile course from Cowes direct to the Fastnet Rock and then to Plymouth via south of the Isles of S ...

, on a Contessa 34 when the yacht was hit by Force 11 winds some 90 miles off Land’s End. Of the 303 starting yachts, 80 had to be saved, 24 were abandoned (of which two were retrieved) at least 75 boats capsized and five sank. Running before the storm, and navigated by a submariner, the boat managed to make its way unaided to Milford Haven. He was the first controller of the Audit Commission from 1983 to 1987, and was then Director General of the

Confederation of British Industry The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is a UK business organisation, which in total claims to speak for 190,000 businesses, this is made up of around 1,500 direct members and 188,500 non-members. The non members are represented through the 1 ...

from 1987 to 1992. In 1992 he became chairman of the Local Government Commission for England that led to a large-scale local government reform in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

.BANHAM IN DERBYSHIRE DEAL WITH GOVERNMENT
, ''

Local Government Chronicle The ''Local Government Chronicle'' (''LGC'') is a British weekly magazine for local government officers, and is published by Metropolis. The magazine was launched in 1855 by bookseller and publisher Charles Knight . It was then published by E ...

'', 7 January 1994, retrieved 1 February 2010 He was

knight 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 church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

ed in the

1992 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1992 were appointments by most of the 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 countri ...

. He was chairman of Tarmac from 1994 to 1999, and the chairman of

Kingfisher plc Kingfisher plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational retailing company headquartered in London, England. It has over 1,300 stores in nine countries, and its brands include B&Q, Castorama, Brico Dépôt and Screwfix. Kingfisher i ...

from 1995 to 2001.Cope, Nigel (1995)
Sir John Banham to head Kingfisher
, ''

'', 16 October 1995, retrieved 1 February 2010Griffiths, Katherine (2001)
Banham quits but denies Kingfisher rift
, ''

'', 7 May 2001, retrieved 1 February 2010 He became the chairman of

in April 2006."John Banham", '' Chemistry & Industry'', 1 May 2006 He has also acted as chairman of West Country Television and as a non-executive director of both

National Westminster Bank National Westminster Bank, commonly known as NatWest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, i ...

and

National Power National power is defined as the sum of all resources available to a nation in the pursuit of national objectives. Assessing the national power of political entities was already a matter of relevance during the classical antiquity, the middle ages ...

. In 1987, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

, and an honorary fellowship from Queens'. Banham was an active freemason. He was a deputy lieutenant of Cornwall. Banham died on 9 August 2022, thirteen days before his 82nd birthday.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banham, John 1940 births 2022 deaths Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Businesspeople awarded knighthoods English businesspeople Knights Bachelor McKinsey & Company people People educated at Charterhouse School People from Cornwall Freemasons of the United Grand Lodge of England Deputy Lieutenants of Cornwall