Sir John Madejski: Given to excellence

The 68-year-old entrepreneur is perhaps best known as a benefactor to the Royal Academy of Arts in Piccadilly, London, where the John Madejski Fine Rooms at Burlington House were named in recognition of a £3m contribution to the institution in 2004. But Madejski has also given his money and lent his name to the centre for reputation at Henley Management College, the new garden at the Victoria and Albert Museum, a lecture theatre at the University of Reading, where he is chancellor, a gallery at the Museum of Reading and the John Madejski Academy in Reading which opened in September 2006.

When we meet in the airy Atrium bar at the Madejski Stadium, the £50m development that is home to Reading Football Club and London Irish RFC, the Reading chairman explains that the practice of putting his name to his chosen causes is happenstance rather than a deliberate strategy. The Madejski Stadium, for example, was to have been called The High Tech Stadium, he explains, but when potential sponsors, all multi-national technology companies based in Reading, failed to sign up to the plan, his marketing man suggested the Madejski name as a replacement “as it has a good strong sound to it.”

At that moment Madejski’s cappuccino arrives bearing an ‘M’ in chocolate sprinkles. “The John Madejski coffee?” I ask. He laughs and checks his tie and suit for more ‘John Madejski’ labelling. Madejski has an excellent sense of humour. In fact ‘excellence’ is a driving force: “I do tend to go for the wow factor, go beyond the norm, in the pursuit of excellence,” he says.

Having made his wealth from the sale of the car classifieds publication Auto Trader, which he built from nothing, Madejski now has 18 businesses spanning publishing, media and entertainment. They include a luxury hotel in the Galapagos Islands, a bottling plant in China and most recently, sustainable, intelligent road ‘studs’ that light carriageways, developed by Clear View Traffic, of which he is the major shareholder.

Madejski appears at 222nd place in The Sunday Times Rich List 2009, with a fortune estimated to be worth £250m. He is also known for owning a dream car collection that has attracted much media attention. In 2009, he was awarded a knighthood for his services to charity in Her Majesty’s New Year’s Honours list. This year, he was also named ‘Philanthropist of The Year’, by Spear’s Wealth.

Madejski says, “I am incredibly grateful for the knighthood. I was very proud to receive it from Her Majesty – my only regret was my mother wasn’t there to see me receive it. It is nice to be recognised. But really it’s the armoury of people working behind the scenes to bring the projects to life who deserve the honour. I am just the facilitator. I just help provide the money.”

So why does Madejski provide money for public good? As a great believer in ‘common sense’ and one who mourns the apparent passing of it in a world he says is ruled by tick boxes and health and safety laws, his answer is, not surprisingly, pragmatic.

“Largesse is a private matter. Some people come to it and some don’t. I believe that we come into the world with nothing and we leave with nothing and what we have in life is borrowed, so why not spend it on the things one enjoys? Giving is an extension of wealth. I prefer to give while I am still around, to enjoy the fruits of my endeavours. I believe if more people thought about life this way, largesse would be greater.”

Secondly, Madejski gives because people ask – though he admits to ‘charity fatigue’. “I must get 20 or more requests a day. It is the bane of my life.” His chosen philanthropic projects, however, are clearly one of the joys of it.

Madejski speaks with passion of the fine art that the public can enjoy at the beautiful Royal Academy building he supports. “It offers the man in the street somewhere away from the daily grind to be inspired by great beauty.” He talks of the “romantic Italianate splendour” that visitors can enjoy at the V&A gardens, and the “inspiration” the John Madejski Academy offers secondary school students in Whitley, South Reading, through its state-of-the-art facilities and innovative learning opportunities. The ethos, values and aims of the academy are underpinned by the government’s Every Child Matters agenda and by sporting excellence. It is the project of which Madejski says he is most proud. The entirely new build was officially opened in December 2008 by the Rt Hon Tony Blair.

Madejski pays tribute to Lord Andrew Adonis, for his tireless work in bringing the academy programme into being and also to the principal of the John Madejski Academy, Catherine Shaw. “She is doing an excellent job,” he says. “I said to her when she began that every child who walks through the school gates has a talent and it’s your job to discover it. Make them believe they can do something well.” To inspire is another strong motivation for Madejski.

“A childhood without nourishment of the soul can lead to children becoming feral”, he says. His own upbringing echoes through the comment. Madejski spent his very early years in a children’s home near Reading. He later moved to Reading, when his mother married his stepfather, adopting the Madejski surname.

“It was an unstructured childhood and I was educatedat a string of despotic schools. I wasn’t good at much but I did have a talent and ambition for making money. I was driven by a need to make money and through it achieve some security,” he explains.

Madejski is passionate about the Reading community and well connected to it and this was marked with an OBE for the work he has done for the town. When he decided to contribute to the Academy project it was on the condition that the school was based in Reading. “There were a lot of social problems in the area around the school; the Academy has made a huge difference,” he says.

I ask Madejski how he knows his donations have made a difference. Does he ask for impact reports and evaluation?

“I haven’t got time for all that stuff,” he says affably. The answer confounds a common belief that hard-headed, successful business people-cum-philanthropists, like Madejski, crave data-driven results to prove the efficacy of their giving.

Madejski is happy to believe his own eyes: “Yes, I know the results of the school are good, but I can see the difference the Academy is having on all concerned. It is tangible. I see children walking around town in their uniforms who are proud of their school. That is a huge change. The Academy is turning lives around.

You could say I give from the heart rather than the head, but it’s actually more of a gut-feeling,” he says.