Bejam was a British frozen food retailer which was founded by John Apthorp in 1968, based in Stanmore. The concept of selling only frozen foods was a novel idea at the time, and Bejam grew out of Apthorp's existing family business of E. A. D. Apthorp, who were potato merchants specialising in local deliveries in and around Edgware and Stanmore. Bejam also derived a small part of its revenue from the sale of electrical appliances with the Bejam brand name, mostly freezers and refrigerators, but also microwave ovens.

Bejam branch

Bejam had bought the rump of the Victor Value chain of supermarkets from Tesco in 1986. In 1989, Bejam was bought by its rival Iceland, despite still being a success and being three times bigger than Iceland. The shops were rebranded to carry the "Iceland" name, and are still trading as such today.

Apthorp also founded Wizard Wines, originally as a subsidiary of Bejam, but which demerged after the Iceland takeover. The chain would later acquire its rival Majestic Wine.

Bejam is an acronym for Brian, Eric, John, And Millie; the first names of the original company directors.

References[link]

• Adrian Room, Corporate Eponymy: A Biographical Dictionary of the Persons Behind the Names, Page 17, McFarland & Co, 1992, ISBN 0-89950-679-8
• Adrian Room, Dictionary of Trade Name Origins, Page 38, Routledge, 1982, ISBN 0-7102-0174-5
• David Boylan, Antony Head, Corporate Finance: Principles & Practice, Page 314, Pearson Education, 2007, ISBN 0-273-70644-6

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W. Denis Walker

Wilfrid Denis Walker (b. December 29, 1933) is a former Rhodesian cabinet minister resident in the United Kingdom. He is known for his monarchist activities and anti-communism and is also the Company Secretary, Director and Treasurer of the International Monarchist League and its UK subsidiary, the Constitutional Monarchy Association. He holds the prefix The Honourable because of his government posts in Rhodesia.^[1]

Early life[link]

Walker became a Methodist missionary in southern Africa. He left the mission service and later settled in Bulawayo, Rhodesia.

Political Career in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe[link]

In the Rhodesia general election of 1974, he won the seat of Bulawayo North as a Rhodesian Front candidate, polling 93·4% of the vote among the electorate. He was re-elected in the 1977 and 1979 elections. Walker served as Minister for Education from 1977 in Ian Smith's government and also held office under Abel Muzorewa in 1979–80.

Following the end of white minority rule and the creation of Zimbabwe, he was appointed Deputy Chairman of Parliamentary Committees, but came under pressure from the new government of Robert Mugabe. He was to have been arrested (on suspicion of attempting to overthrow the government) on December 10, 1981 together with the MP for Bulawayo South, but had fortuitously left on a prearranged holiday. When he returned in January 1982, he briefly re-attended Parliament before learning that the Mugabe government had stationed police around the building to arrest him on sight. Walker fled the country and returned to Britain.

Return to Britain[link]

On February 10, 1982 he delivered a letter to Margaret Thatcher at 10 Downing Street highlighting the political situation in Zimbabwe.

Walker entered into a number of small business concerns, such as (in April 1988) Fax Network International Limited, based in Chingford (in March 1999 this company was renamed Computer Systems UK Ltd).

Monday Club[link]

On 29 September 1986 Denis Walker was the guest-of-honour at a Conservative Monday Club Foreign Affairs Committee Dinner at Bailey's Hotel, Gloucester Road, South Kensington, chaired by Richard Stallabrass, who had previously served in Rhodesia. He subsequently joined the Club and in 1990 joined the Executive Council. On 1 November 1989 Denis Walker produced a paper for the Club's Foreign Affairs Committee, chaired by Gregory Lauder-Frost, on Land Reform in Zimbabwe. In his last paragraph he prophetically stated that;

Other activities[link]

A robust anti-communist, Denis Walker was a guest on September 25, 1989 at the Western Goals Institute Dinner at Simpsons-in-the-Strand, London, in honour of the President of El Salvador, Alfredo Cristiani, and his inner cabinet. Others present included Sir Alfred Sherman (policy advisor to Margaret Thatcher), Monday Club Vice-President Professor Antony Flew, Dr. Zigmunt Szkopiak (Foreign Affairs Minister for the Polish Government in Exile), the Monday Club’s Colonel Barry Turner, R.E.(Retd)., Sam Swerling (former Monday Club chairman), Andrew V R Smith, Stuart Notholt and Gideon Sherman (WGI Directors), Gregory Lauder-Frost and Harvey Ward of the Monday Club’s Foreign Affairs Committee and both Vice-Presidents of Western Goals.

Walker is the Director of the South Africa orientated Good Hope Christian Group, and the Rhodesia Christian Group, organisations which were set up to assist refugees from those countries. He is also General Secretary of The Zimbabwe-Rhodesia Relief Fund, a registered charity, of which the Chairman is Sir Nicholas Winterton (The former Conservative Member of Parliament for Macclesfield).

Denis Walker was appointed in mid-1989 as the Chairman of the Schools Liaison Steering Committee for the British Institute of Management, City of London Branch. His portrait photograph appears on the front page of their Autumn 1989 Newsletter with another in the August/September 2005 Rhodesia Christian Group Newsletter.

Walker was introduced as an Ordinary Member onto the Grand Council of the International Monarchist League on 14 March 1990 by Gregory Lauder-Frost (seconded by Lord Sudeley)^[2], and is now the director of that body.

He administers the International Monarchist League, the Monday Club, and other business activities from an office at Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, and now lives at Woodford Green, Essex. Mr. Walker is married and has one son.

References[link]

This article cites its sources but does not provide page references. You can help to improve it by introducing citations that are more precise.

• Fax Network International booklet, London, 1989, company number 2248589.
• Western Goals Institute archives.
• Rhodesia Herald
• Companies House UK http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/
• Rhodesia Christian Group Newsletter.