Thorn

Jules Thorn, born in Vienna in 1899, arrived in England in the early 1920s after working as a travelling gas-mantle salesman. In 1928, with engineer Alfred Deutsch, he started London's Electric Lamp Service Company Ltd., importing and selling bulbs. He acquired Atlas Lamp Works in 1932, launching the business that became Thorn Lighting. In 1933 he formed Lotus Radio (1933) Ltd. to continue receiver manufacture after the original Lotus Radio's difficulties. Ferguson Radio Corporation was acquired in 1936 and activities including Electric Lamp Service Company and Chorlton Metal Co. were combined in Thorn Electrical Industries Ltd. The 105-109 Judd Street, London, headquarters also appears in 1947.

During the Second World War the group made radios and components, aircraft landing lights, searchlights and radar parts. Postwar expansion included Ekco-Ensign activities and Tricity Cookers. Cooperation with Sylvania enabled fluorescent-tube production; the 1955 Sylvania-Thorn project instead concerned large-scale monochrome picture tubes. Sylvania-Thorn Colour Laboratories Ltd. was already listed at Great Cambridge Road, Enfield, Middlesex, in 1954; the Aircraft Components Division appeared there in 1957. Cooperation with EMI in British Radio Corporation combined receiver interests and brands including Marconiphone and HMV. By 1961, with Philco, Pilot and Ultra Radio & Television, Thorn became Britain's largest radio and TV producer. Jules Thorn was knighted in 1964.

For valves, a separate step was the formation of Thorn-AEI Radio Valves & Tubes Ltd. with Associated Electrical Industries in 1960, also bringing Brimar into that chain. The group name does not automatically attribute all participating brands' valves to Thorn. For colour, amid difficulties accessing technology and patents, uncoated tubes were imported from the US and finished locally. Rentals grew through Robinson Radio Rentals, creating a network described as the world's largest television rental business. Metal Industries, KMT Holdings and Parkinson Cowan acquisitions further broadened the group.

The 1979 EMI acquisition created Thorn EMI plc. Thorn EMI Electronics Ltd. is listed at Upper Saint Martin's Lane, London WC2H 9ED, for 1979-1998. Later restructuring followed different approaches: Peter Laister pursued integrated communications and entertainment, while Colin Southgate returned to core lighting, rentals and retail, with divestments and increasing concentration on music and rentals. SBK Entertainment World and Virgin Music Group strengthened music, alongside music television joint ventures. The 1996 demerger created rental-focused Thorn plc and EMI Group plc for music and related businesses. Rental difficulties and US litigation accompanied overseas disposals, restructuring and UK concentration, while EMI faced its own litigation and new distribution methods, including online partnerships and ventures such as VIVA. Thorn passed to Nomura's financial group in 1998; in 2000 its British television rental operation merged with Granada's in Box Clever. Lighting followed a separate corporate course, joining Zumtobel in 2000. The end of the unified conglomerate therefore did not mean every Thorn-named activity disappeared.