Plans laid for Hall family dynasty Looking to the future, Sir John talks about the multimillion- pound development of Wynyard Hall in his interview on Tyne Tees. As well as a 200-room hotel, it will boast one million sq ft of office space and the same amount of distribution space. He reveals that he and his wife are planning to live in a luxury apartment in the hotel complex, overlooking the lake. The whole scheme should be completed in five years. He reveals that he has several grandchildren aged 15 to 18 who he hopes will take over the family business in the future. "It's about dynasties," he says. "It's about achievement, and money is the logical consequence of success." He adds: "I realise I'm not immortal. I've already got the place for my burial. I hope it's not for a lot of years." Gene key to success Sir john, who is back in the region after spending a few years in Spain, talks about his proud mining roots and how he began working life as a surveyor for the Coal Board. However, the "entrepreneurial gene" he says he inherited from his mother's Wilkinson family kicked in and he started up his own business, Cameron Hall, back in the 1970s. On a tour of the US looking for business ideas, he learned about Enterprise Zones in America which offered tax breaks to encourage companies to set up in particular areas. When Margaret Thatcher introduced the same idea in the UK, Sir John grabbed the opportunity with both hands, buying a patch of swampland in Swalwell, Gateshead. His dream of turning it into an American-type mall was realised when Marks & Spencer agreed to join the scheme. He never looked back, eventually selling the Gateshead MetroCentre for a rumoured £70 million. Parade regret after 12-point lead was lost Amazingly, Sir John insists he got involved with Newcastle United by "accident rather than design". He said he was persuaded to join the Magpie Group, which eventually wrested control of the board away from the previous regime, by sports reporter Bob Cass after they shared a bottle of whisky. Sir John admits that in the 1995-96 season when, under Kevin Keegan, the Magpies raced to a 12-point lead, he had actually planned a victory parade, only for Newcastle to be overtaken by Manchester United. "Perhaps I shouldn't have done it," he says ruefully. | 
