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Charles Gad Strasser, starting from small beginnings with a photographic studio in Newcastle, gained international scope as the founder of Photopia International.Ìý The entrepreneur's business, which became a listed member of the London Stock Exchange, had ties to Germany, Japan and various other developing countries in its heyday.ÌýÌý

Many people living in Newcastle-Under-Lyme will remember Photopia International Plc as, ‘That camera company in Hempstalls Lane’, but it was much more than this; and at its height was one of the biggest, non-governmental employers in the Borough.

Front cover of autobiography

OBE awarded

Photopia became the third largest photographic importer in the UK, conducting business along the likes of Kodak, and employing hundreds from the local region, including myself.Ìý

However as well as excelling in business, it was for Strasser's many humanitarian services that he was awarded his OBE from Her Majesty the Queen at an investiture in Buckingham Palace, 5th December 2000.Ìý

Even today, Strasser remains extremely popular within the local community, holding Photopia Reunion Parties every 5 years with hundreds attending,Ìý decades after his retirement.
In early 2008, he was the subject of a whole ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Stoke programme, and you can hear the interview by clicking on the link below.

Strasser escaped Nazi camps

Strasser’s passionate personal story also has important historical renditions of war-torn Europe where as a small boy, he escaped the Nazi Party’s extermination camps fleeing via one of the last 'Kinder Transports' (Children’s Trains) just before World War Two commenced.Ìý
He had fled from his native Czechoslovakia aged just 11 in 1938 - just barely in advance of the Nazi war machine.

Even today, Strasser’s life is never dull, often enjoying flying his twin engine aircraft and travelling the world.

I believe the famous motto, 'Carpe diem' (Seize the day!) epitomises this fascinating autobiography, dotted with 32 pages of glossy photographs, that will surely interest all locals (and former employees of Photopia) that have lived in The Potteries and Newcastle-Under-Lyme area since the 1950s.Ìý

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"From Refugee to OBE" available from bookshops at £29.95 but available from www.skylogservices.co.uk/cgs/index.htm at a special price of £13.00 plus p&p.Ìý