Royal banquets, state occasions - and other near disasters!

Multiple award-winning Director and General Manager of Claridge’s, Ronald F. Jones OBE began his career in hospitality as a 14-year-old school leaver. His first job was at The Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool - the only job available. He went on to manage 16 leading UK hotels over 64 years. He called hospitality ‘The Happiness Business’, and enjoyed mentoring young people who, today, manage five-star hotels worldwide. Join us to hear his story, which includes experience with royal banquets, state occasions – and other near disasters! This open lecture marks the acquisition of the Ronald and Eve Jones collection into Oxford Brookes University's Special Collections and Archives. This collection is primarily focused on hospitality and hotel management, with material compiled from Ronald and Eve Jones’ extensive careers in consultancy, academia, and travel journalism; and the management of famed hotels including Claridges, Turnberry, Gleneagles, Royal Garden and the Athenaeum Hotel. The collection is currently being catalogued and can be consulted upon request; please email specialcollections@brookes.ac.uk. Speaker: Eve Jones, Hospitality industry journalist and author Eve met and married Ronald F. Jones after a commission for Caterer and Hotelkeeper magazine to write a series of articles on great British hoteliers. He was the first to be interviewed, at that time General Manager of the Athenaeum Hotel in Piccadilly. Romance blossomed and their wedding followed in less than a year.