Edwin Pentland Hick (21 July 1919 – 6 March 2016) was a British entrepreneur, author, publisher, and veteran of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Hick is best known for founding the

Flamingo Land Theme Park and Zoo Flamingo Land is a theme park, zoo, and resort located in Kirby Misperton, North Yorkshire, England. Opened in 1959, it has been owned and operated by the Gibb family since 1978. History Flamingo Land Resort was established in 1959 when a cine ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

Military service

Hick served with the Eighth Army as a

sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...

in the

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps a ...

from 1939 to 1945.

Pentland Hick Cinemas

After

, he left the army and returned to his hometown of

Scarborough, North Yorkshire Scarborough () is a seaside town in the Borough of Scarborough in North Yorkshire, England. Scarborough is located on the North Sea coastline. Historic counties of England, Historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire, the town lies between 10 ...

, where he was given shares in the failing Aberdeen Walk Picture House when his father, a solicitor, was able to arrange for a client to grant a mortgage for it. He renamed the cinema "The Gaiety" and turned it around financially. He built the business into Pentland Hick Cinemas, a chain of seven cinemas including the ''Wyke Star''. The Aberdeen Picture House is now a furniture store, with the original name still visible in stone relief along the front.

Playwright/Impresario

During the 1950s, Hick was also writing -

Samuel French Samuel French (1821–1898) was an American entrepreneur who, together with British actor, playwright and theatrical manager Thomas Hailes Lacy, pioneered in the field of theatrical publishing and the licensing of plays. Biography French founde ...

published two of his one-act plays, ''The Singing Maid'', and ''The Emperor Godiva''. He was friends with

Harry Corbett Harry Corbett OBE (28 January 1918 – 17 August 1989) was an English magician, puppeteer and television presenter. He was best known as the creator of the glove puppet character Sooty in 1952. Biography Corbett was born in Bradford, W ...

and contributed scripting and promotion to

Sooty Sooty is a British children's television media franchise created by Harry Corbett incorporating primarily television and stage shows. The franchise originated with his fictional glove puppet character introduced to television in 1955, with the ...

. He brought Harry and Sooty to the stage in his show FAMILY FUN in Christmas matinees at the

Adelphi Theatre The Adelphi Theatre is a West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster, central London. The present building is the fourth on the site. The theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, and today it is a receiv ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, and holiday season matinees at the ''Floral Hall'' in

Zoo and Theme Park

In 1959 Hick sold the cinema chain and bought a bankrupt country club on of land in the

Ryedale Ryedale is a non-metropolitan district in North Yorkshire, England. It is in the Vale of Pickering, a low-lying flat area of land drained by the River Derwent. The Vale's landscape is rural with scattered villages and towns. It has been inha ...

district and named it the ''Yorkshire Zoological Gardens''. He originally rented animals until receipts allowed him to buy more. The park housed not only pink flamingos, but the UK's first captive

bottlenose dolphins Bottlenose dolphins are aquatic mammals in the genus ''Tursiops.'' They are common, cosmopolitan members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. Molecular studies show the genus definitively contains two species: the common ...

in 1963 and later a whale. One of the dolphins was named ''Sooty'' after Corbett's creation. The park grew to incorporate a

funfair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Types Variations of fairs incl ...

and

amusement rides Amusement rides, sometimes called carnival rides, are mechanical devices or structures that move people especially kids to create fun and enjoyment. Rides are often perceived by many as being scary or more dangerous than they actually are. This ...

, one of the first zoos in Europe to do so. Hick floated the park on the London Stock Exchange in 1965 as Associated Pleasure Parks, and renamed the park "Yorkshire Zoo". Associated Pleasure Parks was then taken over by a larger company (Scotia Leisure) which shortly afterward collapsed in an embezzlement scandal, leaving Hick broke. The park was eventually to come full circle and is now, at , once again

. Later without capital, Hick tried many activities without notable success, until he went full-time into writing, including theatre and television scriptwriting. He died in March 2016 at the age of 96.Edwin Pentland Hick death notice
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Bibliography

* SIN B0000CHKBT(1950) The Wasp Without Wings (no ISBN) * SIN B0000CIGU4(1953) The Singing Maid, A romantic comedy in Chinese the Manner (sic!) (no ISBN) * The Singing Maid, acting edition * SIN B0000CJS43(1957) The Emperor Godiva: A play in one act (with apologies to Hans Andersen) (no ISBN) * The Emperor Godiva: acting edition * (2009) Ogoun's Bomb: a novel

References

External links

Flamingo Land Theme Park and Zoo official site

History and Discussion about Flamingo Land
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hick, Pentland 1919 births 2016 deaths English dramatists and playwrights English male dramatists and playwrights People from Scarborough, North Yorkshire 20th-century English businesspeople British Army personnel of World War II