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North East businessman who originated the ScS name to have book plugged in Times Square

92 year-old Alan Share's latest book draws on the experiences of his long life and stands as a polemic against the country's education system

92 year-old Alan Share's latest book, Miraculous Images, aims to inspire.(Image: Alan Share)

A former businessman behind the company that became furniture giant ScS will see his latest book promoted in New York’s Times Square.

Alan Share ran Sunderland-based family business A. Share & Sons throughout the 1970s and 80s - introducing the ScS brand - before selling up in the early 1990s.

The 92-year-old Oxford-educated barrister has since penned a number of books which offer wisdom from his life experiences, which also include working for the Liberal Party, significant involvement in the Rotary Club of Sunderland and a school for children with physical disabilities and learning difficulties.

His latest book, Miraculous Images, features pictures almost entirely created on Mr Share’s Iphone with the help of co-author Chat Smith. Using the idiom “a picture is worth a thousand words”, Mr Share aims to be thought provoking and encourage others to adopt a motto he has lived by, and one associated with the Rotary Club, which is “service before self”.

The book - which is being promoted in a US publisher in the high profile surroundings of Times Square - offers a polemic with criticism of the º£½ÇÊÓÆµ’s higher education system. It covers diverse topics including education, social justice and business management.

Mr Share explained: “There are certain things that grab me enormously today. We’ve got no kids but I see the present generation of kids and I think they have drawn a short straw in many respects because the education system is lousy - not least because when they leave it they can have a debt of £70,000, which I regard as obscene and a form of slavery actually.

An ScS store in Aberdeen.(Image: Daily Record)

“It really isn’t necessary when you think about it. The people that need graduates should pay for it via scholarships, and furthermore they should relate to the universities so that the subjects the universities teach should be relevant to the needs they’re trying to supply. You necessarily force a dialogue between the people that need graduates and the people who supply them.

He added: “That’s one of the issues I want to raise - and put it into the middle if I can - and I can do it with the aid of this book.”