Business Diary: March 29

The veteran commentator, who has livened up the business pages of the Yorkshire Post with his pithy comments, is to go out with a bang.

Broker BGC revealed at his farewell party that Mr Buik has been awarded the Freedom of the City of London.

Perks include the right to herd a flock of sheep over London Bridge and if he gets convicted of a capital offence he can opt for hanging by a silken rope.

But perhaps the most useful is he can get drunk within the City without fear of unrest. Indeed the City police will escort him to the border of the Square Mile.

What happens to him then though is unclear.

Chicken run in the reptile house

Robert Hanson, the son of industrialist Lord Hanson, this week revealed that being the son of a multi-millionaire business tycoon isn’t always as glamorous as it sounds. As a teenager his first job was an assistant keeper in the reptile house at Windsor Safari Park, now Legoland, which was owned by his father.

He said: “It was the worst job. My job was to feed the reptiles and you know what reptiles eat? Live animals. I had no problem feeding them mice and rats but every fourth day we were delivered 400 male baby chickens.

“They were useless so I became their mother for four days and then I had to decide who got eaten.”

Providing the cars that drive the stars

A chauffeur’s job can often seem a little hum-drum.

Once you’ve seen one PLC chief executive, it seems, you’ve seen them all.

But one Yorkshire company is proud of its links with the world of celebrity.

Over the last decade, Yorkshire-based family business JCT600 has helped celebrities attending the Bradford International Film Festival to travel in style by providing executive chauffeur driven cars during the 12-day event.

Actor Timothy Spall arrived at the National Media Museum in a BMW 5 Series, courtesy of JCT600 BMW Bradford.

He was attending the festival for the UK premiere of his latest film, Reuniting the Rubins.

Mr Spall, who has been a well-known face on both TV and cinema screens since the 1980s, has enjoyed a varied career appearing in the award winning film Secrets and Lies, taking on Shakespearean roles and, more recently, starring as Peter Pettigrew in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Other celebrities being chauffeured by JCT600 include film maker and member of Monty Python Terry Gilliam, and actress Claire Bloom, who is fresh from her role in the hit film The King’s Speech.

“Every year we support the festival by providing chauffeur-driven cars from our prestigious fleet of BMWs,” said Gordon Mee, general manager at JCT600 BMW Bradford.

“As well as the pleasure of seeing so many great British actors arriving in our cars, it’s also important that local businesses do all they can to support Bradford as the UNESCO City of Film and the country’s media centre.”

With its head office in Bradford, JCT600 has 48 car dealerships including BMW, Chevrolet, Mazda, Mini, Peugeot, Vauxhall and Volkswagen in Bradford.