An21 biography of william hill

Hill bred and owned Cantelo , a filly who won the St Leger Stakes in He retired in and died in Newmarket the following year, aged In he married Ivy Burley and together they had one daughter, Kathleen Hill. In he had a second daughter, Miranda Baker, with his partner Sheila Baker. This page was last updated at UTC. Update now. View original page.

In London William started with pony racing at Northolt Park, Britains only track for trotting opened in , occupied during the war and never re-opened but later switched to concentrate on dog racing and did well enough to rent an office in Jermyn Street. There he exploited a loophole which allowed credit or postal betting but not cash.

Success came and he moved to much larger premises in Park Lane. More so he was also interested in breeding horses and in bought a stud at Whitsbury in Hampshire. In Hill produced the first fixed-odds football coupon, and set up a separate football company. Nimbus was foaled at Whitsbury stud in , and, having been sold for guineas at the yearling sales, won the Two Thousand Guineas and Derby.

He won his first and only Classic when Cantelo triumphed in the St. In , Ladbrokes went into the football business, and Hill sued them for infringement of the copyright in his coupon. William Hill missed out on the betting shops. He didn t foresee the palatial palaces of today where the punter can see live racing. If he did, he was afraid of their impact on the working man.

He was a socialist all his life and thought the betting office might lead the working man astray. Hill would have stuck to credit betting and fixed odds only for his friend Jack Swift persuading him to get on the bandwagon in the late sixties before it would be too late. He did that and acquired quite a number of shops. Like all good bookies, the technology side of things has expanded to include mobile betting and an app while new ideas such as betting in play have also been embraced.

Across the globe they employ 16, people and are clearly one of the biggest players in our industry. William Hill have become involved in a number of sporting sponsorships although they have been relatively quiet in terms of football — a shirt deal with Malaga in was a rare foray into this area of advertising. And — if you had been watching the Scottish Cup Final as recently as May , you would have noted William Hill as the principle sponsor of the trophy.

They are a company that obviously like to give back to the sporting world having done so well out of it for over 75 years. William Hill, Ely, Cardiff.

An21 biography of william hill

References [ edit ]. Wikimedia Commons has media related to William Hill. Greyhound Derby, the first 60 years. Ringpress Books. ISBN Authority control databases. United States.