Richard Booth

British bookseller, known for his contribution to the success of Hay-on-Wye as a centre for second-hand bookselling. His example was followed by others, so that by the 1970s Hay had become internationally known as the "Town of Books". He became the self-proclaimed "King of Hay". On 1 April 1977, Richard Booth proclaimed Hay an "independent kingdom" with himself as king Richard Cœur de Livre and his horse as Prime Minister. The publicity stunt gained extensive news coverage and resulted in several spin-offs such as "passports" being issued. On 1 April 2000, Booth followed up with an investiture of "The Hay House of Lords" and created 21 new hereditary peers for the "Kingdom of Hay". The Hay Literary Festival was another spin-off from the burgeoning number of bookshops in the town, which gets an estimated 500,000 tourists a year. In recognition of his services to tourism, Richard Booth was awarded the MBE in the 2004 New Year Honours List. In 1999, he published his autobiography My Kingdom of Books with the help of his stepdaughter Lucia Stuart. Booth stood as a candidate for the Socialist Labour Party in the 1999 Welsh Assembly elections and Wales constituency at the 2009 European Parliament election. He died on 20 August 2019 at age 80 in Cusop, Herefordshire. Link to Wikipedia biography Read less