John Bannerman Milne

  General Notes:

John Milne owned a string of cinemas in Scotland from the 1920s/30? onwards. He had nothing when he started and bought his first cinema with his sister, Lizzie. This was successful and he bought out Lizzie's share.
In time he expanded the business to own a large string of cinemas. He bought a country estate (Ruthven House, in Meigle, Angus). My mum (Margaret Fisher) worked there on holidays from university as a housekeeper. He wanted her to get involved in running the business, but this didn't work out (mum thought it would have been a bad idea anyway).

She had her first driving lesson in a Rolls Royce (or Bentley?) in a field on the Estate!

At one point he told mum that he had so much money that he wasn't even able to spend the interest he was earning on his money!

From the web . . . with a few bits added in by me . . .
"John Bannerman Milne was born one of three sons of Charles Milne, a Dundee coalmerchant, in 1902. When he was nine, he bought his first violin. By the age of sixteen, he was working at Dura Works (a jute mill) from 5.30am to 6.00pm, teaching the violin from 6.00pm to 8.00pm and then playing in a dance hall until midnight.
His first entertainment job was at the Variety Theatre, Dundee, as a 19 shillins a week "musical director and cleaner". He eventually bought the theatre in 1925 for £360 (actually with his sister, Lizzie, though this is not mentioned on the web - my mum told me this!), installed "talkies", and never looked back. Within ten years he . . . presided over a theatre, cinema and bingo empire that stretched from Stornaway to Galashiels . . .
The dance was devised by Angus Fitchet who dedicated it to J.B. Milne as "the man who gave him his start in his show business career".
Some other stuff - he bought Lizzie out at some point early on and then expanded his "empire" - he died in 1968 - never married and lived in Ruthven Hall, near Meigle. He taught my mum to drive in a Rolls Royce in a field on his estate and also once told her in conversation that he had more money than he knew what to do with - he couldn't even manage to spend the interest on his money, no matter how hard he tried! Don't know what happened to the money !!! Unless mum has kept it very well hidden all these years!!!
Described in another report

  Noted events in his life were:

• Occupation: Entrepreneur (owned a string of cinemas). See notes.