Robert Kerridge
Sir Robert James Kerridge was a New Zealand businessman, cinema proprietor, film distributor, tourism promoter and entrepreneur.
Kerridge was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, on 30 October 1901. He developed a theatre chain that owned or controlled 133 cinemas, the biggest exhibition chain in New Zealand or Australia. In 1946, Kerridge sold 50 per cent of his cinema chain to the J. Arthur Rank Organisation of London, netting the vendors almost £1 million, and a Rolls Royce car for Kerridge. The chain was renamed Kerridge Odeon.
In the 1962 Queen's Birthday Honours, Kerridge was appointed a Knight Bachelor, for public services.
