Johan Tham, the Swedish property entrepreneur who converted the historic Cliveden House into one of Britain's premier luxury hotels, has passed away aged 81 following a cancer diagnosis. He died on November 17.
Tham was married to actress Jenny Agutter, celebrated for her performances in The Railway Children, An American Werewolf in London, and the BBC series Call the Midwife.
The hotelier is best known for taking on the Grade I listed Cliveden estate in 1984 through his company Blakeney Hotels.
At that time, the former Astor family residence was being used by the National Trust as student accommodation, having declined significantly from its days as a grand country house that Queen Victoria once called "dear, beautiful Cliveden".
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Jenny Agutter's husband has died
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Mr Tham first crossed paths with Ms Agutter at the Bath Literary Arts Festival in 1989.
Speaking to the Daily Mail in 2023, the actress reflected on their initial connection: "When Johan and I met, I did not feel he had any sense of who I was at all, but he wanted to find out, and that made a big difference. I'm still finding out about him 31 years on."
The pair wed at the estate in August 1990, with Ms Agutter's ring finger stained purple from the garden's mulberries.
Their son Jonathan, now a GP specialising in sleep medicine, was born that December.
Jenny Agutter as Sister Julienne in Call the Midwife
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Cornwall held a special place in Mr Tham's heart, where he cultivated a remarkable garden at his coastal cottage.
"His laughing always made me laugh even if the joke didn't," Ms Agutter recalled.
Mr Tham was born in Nykoping, Sweden, in 1944, before he relocated to England when he was just four years old.
His education took him to Heatherdown before he boarded at Charterhouse, an experience that proved challenging for a Swedish boy in postwar Britain.
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After completing a law degree and briefly joining a legal practice, he swiftly concluded the profession was unsuitable for him.
Property became his calling instead, with his early ventures encompassing an eclectic mix, including a funeral parlour and petrol station.
In 1978, he joined forces with businessman John Lewis to establish Blakeney Hotels, named after the fictional Scarlet Pimpernel character Sir Percy Blakeney.
Their inaugural project transformed Bath's Royal Crescent from a boarding house into an upmarket hotel, working alongside architect William Bertram.
Jenny Agutter's Sister Julienne in Call the Midwife
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Cliveden House represented Blakeney Hotels' most ambitious undertaking. The National Trust wanted to see the property restored to its former glory, having previously welcomed distinguished guests, including Sir Winston Churchill during Nancy Astor's tenure as hostess.
As managing director, Mr Tham was a fan of all things theatrical, and guests could cruise the Thames aboard elegant 33ft slipper launches or swim in the pool made infamous when Christine Keeler bathed there during the summer of 1961.
Ms Agutter, meanwhile, will soon be returning to screens in this year's Call the Midwife Christmas special on Christmas Day.
The cast travelled to Hong Kong to film the festive episode, an experience Ms Agutter has reflected upon fondly ahead of the show's return.
Jenny Agutter
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"It was wonderful. I have a special connection with it because from the age of three to six or seven, I was in Singapore and we visited Hong Kong, though a very, very different Hong Kong," she told the BBC.
"It’s extraordinary - great tall buildings, lots of lights, really built up, nothing from what I remembered at all as a child.
"I sort of enjoyed it then, but it was just something one looked at. Going there to work gives you a completely different view."
And of the episode itself, Ms Agutter said: "The whole piece is very much about unsteady ground.
"Everything is about people being displaced in some way, and the changes bringing something new and fresh.
"But in other ways, it's very disturbing. Back in Poplar, they're dealing with a family who are completely displaced. They are travellers who have no home, and who are having a child."