1. Christina Agnes Lilian Foyle was an English bookseller and owner of Foyles bookshop.
10 Facts About Christina Foyle
1. 2.
Miss Foyle was born in London, the daughter of William Foyle, a leading bookseller, owner of Foyles, on the Charing Cross Road in the West End of London.
3.
At the age of seventeen, after leaving a Swiss finishing school, Christina Foyle started working at her father's bookshop, and never left.
4.
Christina Foyle was the only one of Foyle's three children who made a career in the business.
5.
In 1930, when she was nineteen, Christina Foyle created the world's first public literary luncheon, bringing together notable writers and other distinguished figures, to meet members of the public.
6.
On one occasion, Christina Foyle recommended The Forsyte Saga to an elderly customer who was looking for something to read on the train.
7.
William and Christina Foyle undertook to organize it, and the Right Book Club was launched at a luncheon at the Grosvenor House Hotel in April 1937, with Lord Stonehaven, the recently-retired Chairman of the Conservative Party, presiding.
8.
Christina Foyle resisted unionisation of bookshop staff, sacking most employees just before they had worked there six months, when they would gain limited job protection rights.
9.
Christina Foyle refused to install electronic tills or calculators, and orders would not be taken by phone.
10.
Christina Foyle met many leading literary and political figures during her life.