{{short description|English bookseller, bibliophile and literary publicist (1938-2019)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}} {{Use British English|date=June 2013}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Richard Booth | honorific_suffix = MBE | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = Richard George William Pitt Booth.jpg | image_size = 200px | alt = | caption = Richard Booth in 1984 | birth_name = Richard George William Pitt Booth | birth_date = {{Birth date|1938|09|12|df=y}} | birth_place = Plymouth, Devon, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|2019|08|20|1938|09|12|df=y}} | death_place = Brynmelyn, Cusop, Herefordshire, UK | other_names = | alma_mater = Merton College, Oxford | occupation = Bookseller | years_active = | employer = | organization = | known_for = Booktown Movement | notable_works = | style = ''King of Hay'' | title = | political_party = Socialist Labour Party (UK) | movement = | opponents = | awards = 40px MBE | spouse = Elizabeth Westall (m. 1969, ''div.'')<br>Hope Stuart ''née'' Barrie (m. 1987) | partner = | children = | parents = Philip Booth (1897–1970)<ref>[https://www.rcmcollection.com/archives/obli-chronicle-1964.pdf www.rcmcollection.com]</ref><br>Elizabeth Pitt | relatives = Frederick Marryat (g-g-gf)<br> Viva King (aunt)<br>John Rudolphus Booth (cousin) }}
[[File:Coat of arms of the Booth Family.svg|right|thumb|130px|Booth coat of arms]] '''Richard George William Pitt Booth''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MBE}} (12 September 1938 – 20 August 2019) was an English bookseller, bibliophile and literary publicist.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/obituary/2019/08/29/obituary-richard-booth-died-on-august-20th|title=Obituary: Richard Booth died on August 20th|date=29 August 2019|newspaper=The Economist}}</ref>
Seated at Hay Castle, and a scion of the ancient Cheshire family,<ref>[https://www.burkespeerage.com/ www.burkespeerage.com]</ref> Booth established Hay-on-Wye as a literary centre becoming the self-proclaimed ''King of Hay''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Owen |first1=Twm |title=The King of Hay, Richard Booth has died aged 80 |url=http://www.brecon-radnor.co.uk/article.cfm?id=111026&headline=The%20King%20of%20Hay,%20Richard%20Booth%20has%20died%20aged%2080§ionIs=news&searchyear=2019 |accessdate=20 August 2019 |archive-date=17 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200217164326/http://www.brecon-radnor.co.uk/article.cfm?id=111026&headline=The%20King%20of%20Hay%2C%20Richard%20Booth%20has%20died%20aged%2080§ionIs=news&searchyear=2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Appointed MBE in 2004 for "services to tourism", Booth paved the way for the Hay Literary Festival.
==Literary award== [[File:Cofeb Richard Booth, Y Gelli - Booth memorial, Hay-on-Wye (geograph 7193605).jpg|thumb|Booth "King of Hay" memorial tablet]] In 2014, Booth gave his name to an annual literary award in association with the ''Hay Writers' Circle''.<ref>[https://www.hayfestival.com/home www.hayfestival.com]</ref> Judges and winners of the '''''Richard Booth Prize for Non-Fiction''''' include:
{|class="wikitable" !Year!!Judge!!Winner |- |2014||Rachel Cooke||Jo Jones |- |2015||Colin McDowell||Emma van Woerkom |- |2016||Dan Davies||Juliet Foster |- |2017||Noel Kingsbury||Ange Grunsell |- |2018||Oliver Bullough||Marianne Rosen |- |2019||Phil Carradice||colspan=2| |- |2020||Rib Davis||Kerry Hodges |- |2021||Roland White||Gill Haigh |- |2022||Gilly Smith||Lily Rose King |}
===Politics=== Booth stood unsuccessfully for the Socialist Labour Party as a prospective AM candidate at the 1999 Welsh Assembly elections<ref>{{cite news|url=https://WWW.INDEPENDENT.CO.UK/ARTS.../PANDORA-1072460.HTML|title=Pandora|date=22 February 1999|newspaper=The Independent|access-date=21 January 2021}}</ref> and for Wales constituency MEP at the 2009 European Parliament elections.
;Welsh Assembly elections {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year !! Region !! Party !! Votes !! % !! Result |-
| 1999 || Mid and West Wales || SLP || 3,019 || 1.4 || Not elected<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.election.demon.co.uk/wales.html|title=National Assembly for Wales Election Results 1999-2007|website=election.demon.co.uk|accessdate=23 August 2019|archive-date=29 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929073940/http://www.election.demon.co.uk/wales.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> |}
;European Parliament elections {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year !! Region !! Party !! Votes !! % !! Result !! Notes |- | 2009 || Wales || SLP || 12,402 || 1.8 || Not elected || Multi-member constituency; party list |}
== Booth effigy beheading == In 2009, a revolt was held against the "King" by so-called republicans, led by bookseller and proprietor of Oxford House Books, Paul Harris, who journalist Sean Dodson called a "Cromwell figure".<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Dodson |first=Sean |date=2009-10-02 |title=Overthrowing the King of Hay |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/oct/02/richard-booth-king-hay |access-date=2023-05-05 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> He was former employee of Booth's, reported as being "tutored at the knee" of the self-declared regent and helping him move large "lorry loads" of books from the United States to the UK, in an on-off "love/hate" working relationship that lasted over a decade. Despite Harris's leading of a trial of treason and symbolic "beheading" of Booth, they "remained on good terms".<ref name=":0" /> After becoming independent of Booth and setting up his own bookshop in the town, subsequently setting up a commonwealth, became the "first minister" and planned to set up a Speaker's Corner, which would establish Hay as a bastion of "free speech".<ref name=":0" />
The "trial for treason" was not just a publicity stunt; like the initial declaration of independence by Booth, it was inspired by political concerns, but instead of economic decline, the rebels were inspired by concerns around the issue of gentrification. Though Harris is not recorded as having used the word, he was concerned about the threat posed to the independent character of the town by the over-dependence on the commercial, outsider interests of the Hay Festival, "saying, we cannot trade off the profile of the festival for 52 weeks a year". Indeed, Harris's prosecuting argument was that the Hay Festival had become too publicly dominant and had negatively impacted the economic fortunes of the many secondhand books shops that made up the town.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=2009-01-25 |title=The Battle of Hay-on-Wye |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/the-battle-of-hayonwye-1515308.html |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref>
Harris argued that Booth, a promotional figurehead of the town due to his self-declared kingship, had been negligent in promoting the issues of the booksellers over the festival. He told the press in 2009, "You can fill a town with books, but that won't bring people to the town[...] You need publicity and promotion, which is now all sucked up by the festival. Richard used to be great at drumming up publicity and denouncing the festival. He's not able to do that any more, so we need to set up a council to replace him."<ref name=":3"/> and "My point is we've retired him, and if you have any respect for him then let him have a rest – he's 71."<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Flood |first=Alison |date=2009-09-30 |title=Booksellers 'behead' the King of Hay |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/sep/30/booksellers-behead-king-hay |access-date=2023-05-05 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Another of the to-be commonwealth, bookseller and "Witchfinder General" Peter "Boz" Harries agreed, arguing that Booth had failed in his crown duty, adding, "We think this is a natural continuation. There are one or two locals who think it is rather cruel, but when Richard had his coronation in the 1970s a lot of locals were vehemently against him."<ref name=":2" />
There were opponents to the republican mission, including Booth himself, who said "I don't think it's worth having an argument as they don't know what they're talking about [...] The revolting peasants are revolting."<ref name=":2" /> The founder of the Hay Festival Peter Florence was similarly dismissive, blaming the decreasing fortunes of the booksellers individually and saying, they "need to rethink their (business) strategy".<ref name=":3"/>
Several novelists spoke out in response to the planned trial and beheading, some in support, some against. Duncan Fallowell said, "I call the festival Waterstones-on-Wye. It's almost lost touch with intellectual value" but Matthew Engel said, "Many festival goers don't go into the town, but the idea that the festival detracts from Hay is clearly preposterous."<ref name=":3" />
However, Harris argued that booksellers had seen a fifty percent decrease in sales in the years leading up to the revolt. Popular British novelist Robert Harris commentating at the time, sympathised with the booksellers, also suggesting that the recession and the internet had affected their fortunes.<ref name=":3" />
The "beheading" of Booth's effigy took place on 27 September 2009 at the Old Butter Market in Hay town centre,<ref>[https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/23176/archives/ www.coflein.gov.uk]</ref> with the rebels dressed as Roundheads and the pro-Booth Royalists like Cavaliers (contrary to his Booth family history). Paul Harris led the charge, and applause and jeers from the peripheries of the Butter Market could be heard when the fake head of Booth rolled into the bucket.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yks3_LcubM | title=Booksellers 'behead' the King of Hay | website=YouTube }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQZGXKL4YAU | title=The King of Hay "Beheading" Day | website=YouTube }}</ref>
==See also== * Booth baronets * Hay Festival
==Sources== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20040620052710/http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/mid/halloffame/arts/richard_booth.shtml BBC Arts]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Booth, Richard}} Category:1938 births Category:2019 deaths Category:People from Hay-on-Wye R Category:People educated at Rugby School Category:Alumni of Merton College, Oxford Category:20th-century Welsh businesspeople Category:21st-century Welsh businesspeople Category:English booksellers Category:Micronational leaders Category:Socialist Labour Party (UK) members Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire Category:People from Herefordshire