For Immediate Release:
John Haynes OBE Awarded Honorary Open University Degree
At a ceremony on May 20th at Cheltenham Town Hall, John Haynes OBE was presented with the honorary degree, Master of the University by the University’s Chancellor, the Right Honourable Baroness ‘Betty’ Boothroyd of Sandwell. The award was, in the words of the Open University Senate, “to honour John Haynes: an author, a publisher, the custodian of a unique motor vehicle collection, champion of the West Country and an iconic figure to many of us – particularly, it has to be said, to the men.”
While still at school, John declared that an early hero of his was car giant William Morris – later Lord Nuffield – and indeed a faithful reproduction of the original Morris Garage forms a central feature of the Haynes International Motor Museum in Somerset. Such was his admiration of the Morris way of doing things that John chose Morris’ biography Wheels to Fortune as his Senior Art Prize.
During the presentation, Baroness Boothroyd referred to a particular passage from the book: “For any man worth his salt, the desire for personal gain is not his chief reason for working. It is a desire to achieve, to be a success, to make his job worthy of his mettle and self respect.” It was felt that John Haynes has more than measured up to such a worthwhile aim.
As a successful businessman, John Haynes founded J H Haynes & Co Ltd back in 1960, with the Haynes Publishing Group PLC being floated on the London Stock Market in 1979. The operation is now a truly international concern with editorial and production facilities on both sides of the Atlantic as well as in Australia. Haynes manuals are now translated into many different languages and the formula has been successfully applied to cover bicycles, computers and man himself, in the form of the best selling Man Manual, a step-by-step guide to men’s health.
Haynes manuals are still produced in exactly the same way as they were when the company was founded 45 years ago: each vehicle is stripped down and rebuilt in the company’s own project workshop with every procedure meticulously photographed and documented. The latest project, for the New MINI, is available for view on the company’s website .
John was awarded the OBE for services to publishing in 1995 and is still teased to this day for not asking the Prince of Wales if he could borrow his Aston Martin to create a Haynes manual.
The text of this release together with print quality images is available for download at
Notes to Editors:
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