Naturally, Isaac Wolfson figures significantly in the recently published book Kays of Worcester - A Pictorial History of the Mail Order Company by Bernard Mills, price £12 from local bookshops.

This publication is clearly a must for those who have worked at Kays down the decades. With compelling detail and many old photos and illustrations, the book covers the 200-year history of the company which started from modest beginnings in the 1790s at a shop in Goose Lane, now St Swithin's Street.

Mr Mills highlights the major and lengthy role played by the man who gave his name to the company - William Kilbourne Kay. He was at its helm from the mid-1880s until his death in 1929.

Mr Mills writes that Isaac Wolfson, the newly-appointed managing director of GUS Ltd, made a business trip to Worcester in 1936 or 37 and, on seeing the impressive offices of Kays in The Tything, remarked that the business had class and was the type of concern he would want within his growing business empire.

"There is anecdotal evidence that Isaac Wolfson walked into the reception, asked to see the managing director of Kays, and there and then offered to buy the whole company no matter what the price, producing his cheque book to prove that he was serious.

"However, it was to be by more formal negotiations that the sale to Great Universal Stores was completed in June 1937," writes Mr Mills.

He has formed his own publishing company, FLAG Publishing Ltd and plans a series of books on Kays.

"My next book is currently in progress and I hope to include a collection of people's personal memories and recollections, both good and bad, of what it was like to work for Kays," he says.

"It would also be good to include photographs of Kays employees at parties, dances, works outings, carnivals and so on, from personal albums rather than from company archives."

Any readers who can help him with these personal recollections and photos is asked to contact him at 48 St Mary's Close, Kempsey WR5 3JX.

Copies of his recent Kays of Worcester book can also be obtained from this address by adding £2.50 for postage of packing.