Books: Review - Kick the Tyres, Light the Fires. By Sir Torquil Norman

Published: 10 June, 2010

Dan Carrier meets the former fighter pilot, toymaker and philanthropist who transformed the Roundhouse, and who now has a bold vision for reforming British society

EVERY year a single red rose arrives at Sir Torquil Norman’s Camden Lock flat. The flower is a form of rent – the payment the toymaker receives for ploughing his fortune into the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm, which offers training oppor­tunities for young people. 

In 10 years more than 20,000 youngsters have benefited from his largesse: while the main auditorium has become one of the country’s top concert venues, its core job is to give training in performing arts. 

The retired fighter pilot, toymaker and philanthropist stepped down as chairman of the Roundhouse Trust two years ago. But Sir Torquil, 77, has not rested on his laurels. He has spent two years writing a book outlining how he came to hand over millions of pounds to convert a derelict shed into an arts venue. It ends with a manifesto of how he wants to see the government tackle the issues the Roundhouse has taken on since it opened its doors.

Called Kick The Tyres, Light The Fires (after a saying he picked up as a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm), the book calls for root and branch reform of British society. 

As he puts it: “I don’t want to re-arrange the deckchairs, I want to re-design the ship.”

His ideas range from reforming benefits to training young people, from prison reform to establishing a Community National Service. He talks of overhauling the tax system and  constitutional change, calls for the Freedom of Information Act to be beefed up; and suggests how to cut crime and drug use. 

Above all, Sir Torquil offers suggestions as to what he would do if he were the chief executive of United Kingdom, plc. The book has landed on the desk of the Prime Minister and has been praised by Sir Bob Geldof and Sir James Dyson.

“My motivation came from 11 years’ working on the Roundhouse,” he says. He reveals that it was while lying in the bath that he had his Eureka! moments to set up the Roundhouse and also to write the book. 

He and his wife Anne had a charitable trust into which they ploughed money from his toy business, but they wanted a project that would make a real difference, rather than fund piecemeal schemes. The answer was to use a derelict train shed as a catalyst for a social revolution.

Torquil’s background is described: “I am aware that I have had enormous privileges and luck throughout my life,” he says.

“I have no formal qualifications for writing the book, but perhaps some knowledge of my background will give the reader an idea of why I am writing it and the ideals that inspire it. My purpose was to suggest a way of transforming our country’s future.”

The son of an air force officer, who  died in 1943 in a plane crash, his childhood was spent partly in America, and on his return he did his National Service with the Fleet Air Arm. He describes learning how to land a fighter plane on the deck of an aircraft carrier. It nearly killed him: he flew a Sea Fury onto HMS Illustrious, but the plane cartwheeled and burst into flames. “I had never been good at getting out of the aircraft during practices [he is 6’ 7”] but on that occasion I broke all records,” he recalls.

He missed serving in Korea by three weeks and instead took a place at Trinity College, Cambridge. He  worked in America for JP Morgan, and while he was in the US he met Anne. Torquil’s business acumen was such that when he turned his attention to toy companies, he created childhood icons. He set up Bluebird Toys in the 1970s, which resulted in The Big Yellow Teapot and Polly Pockets dolls. 

It was this success that ultimately bankrolled the Roundhouse. 

Torquil cites Anne’s influence as crucial: he says she originally came up with the idea to plough the fortunes he was making into a charity. He also says that his wife’s politics were “very left wing”.

“In 1986, Anne, who was a wonderful supporter of good causes, had been giving my overdraft away at such a rate that I couldn’t keep up with it. I persuaded her we should take around a third of our shares and put them into a trust dedicated to good causes.”

By the time he had retired, the trust had reached £6million.

“We felt many young people had received a lousy deal,” he says.

“I remember after the war thinking that Britain was a wonderful place. It was clear my life had been especially privileged. During the intervening years the country has got richer – but the gap between rich and poor has grown ever wider and all around us so many young people with so much potential have been poorly educated and remain in poverty.”

And now, with the Roundhouse blazing a trail, Torquil wants to use his experience to create a fairer and more dynamic society. It has turned him into a reluctant, non-partisan politician – and has prompted him to pen a polemic about where he thinks we have gone wrong and how we can put things right.

• Kick the Tyres, Light the Fires. By Sir Torquil Norman. Infinite Ideas £12.99