John Campbell Bonner Letts (18 November 1929 – 25 March 2006) was an English publisher, who founded the

British Empire and Commonwealth Museum The British Empire and Commonwealth Museum () was a museum in Bristol, England, exploring the history of the British Empire and the effect of British colonial rule on the rest of the world. The museum opened in 2002 and entered voluntary liquid ...

, was first chairman of National Heritage, and was instrumental in setting up the short-lived

Earth Centre, Doncaster The Earth Centre, Doncaster was a large-scale visitor attraction which was established to provide both education and entertainment around environmental issues and sustainable practices. It was located on a 400-acre former colliery site in Conisbro ...

. Letts was educated at Oakley Hall preparatory school, of which his father, Major C. F. C. Letts, was headmaster, then at Haileybury and

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...

, having won a scholarship for English, taking an M.A. in 1953. Having started out as a copywriter at S. H. Benson, from 1959, Letts worked for

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.J. Walter Thompson J. Walter Thompson (JWT) was an advertisement holding company incorporated in 1896 by American advertising pioneer James Walter Thompson. The company was acquired in 1987 by multinational holding company WPP plc, and in November 2018, WPP merge ...

. In 1964, he went to ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' as general manager, then in 1966 to

Book Club Associates Book Club Associates (BCA) was a mail-order and online book selling company in the United Kingdom. It came to dominate the mail-order book-club business in the U.K. in the 1970s and 1980s through extensive advertising in Sunday newspaper colour su ...

, retiring from new book publishing in 1971 after two years as marketing manager for Hutchinson. That year, Letts became co-chairman of the

Folio Society The Folio Society is a London-based publisher, founded by Charles Ede in 1947 and incorporated in 1971. Formerly privately owned, it operates as an employee ownership trust since 2021. It produces illustrated hardback editions of classic fict ...

, and founder chairman of National Heritage; he retired from the former in 1987, having doubled membership, and was made Life President of National Heritage in 1999. He was appointed O.B.E. in 1980. Letts was also the prime mover behind the Trollope Society which celebrates the work of the Victorian novelist

Anthony Trollope Anthony Trollope (; 24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882) was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era. Among his best-known works is a series of novels collectively known as the '' Chronicles of Barsetshire'', which revolves ar ...

. The Society published the first complete edition of Trollope's 47 novels. His wife, cookery writer Sarah Helen, was daughter of the architect and interior designer

Brian O'Rorke Edward Brian O'Rorke (1901 – 1974) was a New-Zealand-born British architect and interior designer. Early life and education Brian O'Rorke was born at Fendalton, Christchurch, New Zealand, on 14 June 1901, the third son of Edward Dennis O'Ror ...

and his wife Juliet Mabel Olga (1903-1988), elder daughter of solicitor Ernest Edward Wigan, M.A., of Oakley Lodge, Weybridge, Surrey, and his wife Mabel Helen, daughter of Robert Watson Willis of Hinxton House, East Sheen, Surrey.Anthony Powell- Journals 1982-1986, Anthony Powell, Heinemann, 1995, p. 73 Letts and his wife had three sons and a daughter. His nephew is the journalist

Quentin Letts Quentin Richard Stephen Letts (born 6 February 1963) is an English journalist and theatre critic. He has written for ''The Daily Telegraph'', ''Daily Mail'', ''Mail on Sunday'', and '' The Oldie''. On 26 February 2019, it was announced that Let ...

References

External links

The Trollope Society
1929 births 2006 deaths People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College Officers of the Order of the British Empire Moorhouse–Rhodes family {{publish-bio-stub