A Full Cup: Sir Thomas Lipton's Extraordinary Life and His Quest for the America's Cup [Hardcover]

Michael D'Antonio (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 8, 2010

An in-depth biography of Sir Thomas Lipton, the founder of Lipton Tea-a portrait of a remarkable self-made man and intrepid sailor.

Today Lipton means tea. However, in his time Sir Thomas Lipton was known for much more. Raised in desperate poverty, he became rich beyond his wildest dreams. He built a global empire of markets, factories, plantations, and stockyards. And his colorful pursuit of the America's Cup trophy made him a beloved figure on both sides of the Atlantic.

In A Full Cup, Michael D'Antonio tells the tale of this larger- than-life figure. Beginning with a journey across the United States just after the Civil War, Thomas J. Lipton developed the ambition and learned the business techniques that helped him create the first chain of grocery stores. Wealthy before the age of thirty, he set his sights on the tea trade, and soon his name became synonymous with his product. Lipton's great business success makes for a compelling story of innovation and achievement. Moreover, though, Lipton's most intriguing creation was a public persona-one of the first formed with the help of a modern mass media-that appealed to millions of ordinary people, as well as the elites in America and Europe. Concocting simple stunts like elephant parades, Lipton mastered the new art of obtaining free publicity. With shameless self-promotion, he became one of the world's most eligible bachelors, a patron of the poor, and ultimately reached legendary heights when he revived the competition for the America's Cup. With one losing attempt after another, the gallant Lipton, who didn't even know how to sail his own yacht, became ever more popular. D'Antonio's biography brings to vivid life this remarkable figure.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Michael D’Antonio on The Great Lipton

If he hadn’t been so successful, so rich, and so damn charming, Thomas Lipton would have been truly annoying. No one had a better knack for popping up in the middle of big events and getting his name and picture in the press. The Queen’s Jubilee? Lipton puts on a banquet for 40,000 and earns a knighthood. Admiral Dewey’s return from Manila? There’s Lipton at his side for the daylong parade in New York. War breaks out in the Balkans, and yes, it’s Lipton who recruits doctors and nurses, and steams into the fray at the helm of a hospital ship. The guy was everywhere for half a century, and yet no one tired of seeing him. Indeed, for a time when he wasn’t around, people flocked to the theater to see a look-alike actor play him onstage.

Long before anyone heard of Richard Branson or Larry Ellison or, for that matter, Bill Gates, Thomas Lipton created the persona of the happy captain of industry who used self-promotion, or philanthropy, or sport (he used all three), to become a household name. Before him, no self-made rich man had had so much fun becoming famous. After him, everyone borrowed from the Lipton method. He succeeded because he knew, firsthand, the lives and feelings of the poor and working people who were his customers, and they knew that as improbable as it was, the story he told about himself was almost entirely true.

Born in Scotland to parents who had fled the Irish famine, Lipton spent his early childhood in abject poverty. On a journey to America he learned the tricks of modern retailing and the value of an entertaining stunt. Having returned home to open a chain of groceries, he used pig parades and elephants to draw crowds to his stores. He also dropped leaflets from hot-air balloons, scattered authentic-looking Lipton banknotes in the streets, and commissioned the world’s largest cheeses for his shop windows. After groceries he went into tea, and on the strength of outlandish advertising became the world’s largest supplier. But his greatest stunt was a challenge for the America’s Cup, which became a thirty-year quest that captivated millions on both sides of the Atlantic.

Having parlayed his fame into a profitable friendship with the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, Lipton volunteered when Britain needed a rich man to try for the coveted cup. He spent a fortune on his boat and crew and on parties in New York for the social set. He was thoroughly trounced on the racecourse but spectacularly successful with the press and the public. He would mount four more challenges, losing every time and yet winning more hearts. By the last challenge, he had most of America pulling for him and the great Will Rogers begging his fellow Yanks to just let the old fellow win.

What was it, in the end, that made Lipton so popular? First, he was the antithesis of the robber barons and monopolists who were so hated in his time. Second, with his adventures and philanthropy he used his money the way others imagined they would. Finally, he constructed himself with inspiring and loving attention to detail. Lipton loved being Lipton, and his enthusiasm—he called himself The Great Lipton—was infectious. His few critics said he eventually became the caricature he played for so many years. This was, in fact, true, and it made the man happy for nearly all of his days.

--Michael D'Antonio

From Publishers Weekly

Lipton, the world's first millionaire sportsman, revolutionized the world of tea before sinking millions of dollars into a thwarted quest to win the America's Cup for England. D'Antonio excels at capturing the excitement of the races, and the good sportsmanship that endeared Lipton to America and England both. Lipton seems to have vanished into history, and D'Antonio is to be commended for capturing him so thoroughly but the author falls short in effectively exploring two intriguing, and important, aspects of Lipton's life: His long residence with another man, and his support for Irish independence (while maintaining close ties with English royalty). While D'Antonio does point out that "if Lipton had relationships with men, indiscretion would inevitably mean the loss of his reputation, his business and possibly his freedom," he leaves it at that, suggesting a choice to avoid less savory aspects of Lipton's life and giving the impression that the author is treading water. D'Antonio deserves praise for bringing Lipton's remarkable life to our attention, even if we end up wishing he'd probed further. Photos. (July) (c)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover; 1St Edition edition (July 8, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159448760X
• ISBN-13: 978-1594487606
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #371,068 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Besides the influence of family and growing-up experiences in small town New Hampshire I have been most affected by two people I met in college, my wife Toni and my first mentor, writer Donald Murray. Both have encouraged me to express my creativity, connect with others, and find ways to serve. They understood intuitively what I later found expressed so well by Viktor Frankl in Man's Search for Meaning. I've found that if I don't take maysellf too seriously, and add a little silliness, it's a pretty good recipe.
Today I live in Long Island, not far from the sound. I have two grown daughters, Amy and Elizabeth, who have becopme the other great influences on my life.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sir Tea, August 18, 2010

By 

Linda Bulger (United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Full Cup: Sir Thomas Lipton's Extraordinary Life and His Quest for the America's Cup (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Good biographies are about much more than their subjects, and "A Full Cup" is certainly a good and exhaustive biography of Thomas J. Lipton. Here are a few quick facts about "Sir Tea:"

* Born in 1848 in Glasgow, grew up in the slums, went to America as a lad, saved up a grubstake and learned some crazy American commercial ways

* Back in Glasgow he opened a grocery store, advertised it with pig parades, jingles, and other crazy stuff

* Added more stores, MANY stores, integrated vertically by going into meat packing in the U.S. and buying tea plantations in Ceylon

* Had more money than Croesus, was a bigger publicity hound than P.T. Barnum, and (like Forrest Gump) when any big thing happened, he was there

* Hung out with the Prince of Wales (Bertie), later King Edward VII; though being in trade and from the slums, he was never quite comme il faut with the upper class, always "the king's grocer"

* Was never married or known to be in a relationship, and the book suggests that he was homosexual but, with admirable editorial restraint, never mentions it again

* Spent millions of dollars building yachts and mounting five unsuccessful challenges for the America's Cup between 1899 and 1930; America loved him and presented him with a cup for being "the best of all losers"

* Lived the fullness of his years, and though his grocery chain is gone, his tea empire lives on under an international conglomerate

Author and journalist Michael D'Antonio presents Lipton's life in the context of the forces that shaped his success. He went into business in the right time and place, as Glasgow was embracing the Industrial Revolution in the last quarter of the 19th century: its population was swelling and incomes were rising, so that the demand for nutritious food was unprecedented as "trade transformed the national diet." Shipping and transport were developing. A resourceful, hardworking businessman not afraid to invest his money had a great chance of success, and Lipton was all that.

Eventually Lipton began to think about selling tea. Tea had until recently been taxed heavily and sourced almost exclusively from China, expensive to ship and prone to spoilage. But the British Empire began to use India and Ceylon to supply tea to Great Britain; one of the many benefits of having dominion territories. Through industrial espionage, the superior Chinese tea was smuggled to Ceylon and thrived there. Now, with tea much more affordable, demand for good, reasonably priced tea exploded--and Lipton was there. He moved his tea sales into the U.S. in time to take advantage of the temperance movement and Prohibition, offering a stimulating, good-quality product, attractively packaged. With his picture on every packet, he WAS Lipton's Tea.

At every stage of his career, D'Antonio fits Lipton into the social fabric as if it had been created just to showcase his talents; if he had not existed, the Gilded Age would have had to create him. Well, it did, and "A Full Cup" is a pleasure to read in every way, but especially as social history.

While we get a front-row seat for the man's adventurous life, we somehow don't get to know him personally. Though he was steeped in his business (and all of his activities were business, in a way) I would have expected and welcomed a more intimate look at Thomas Lipton. There are no personal letters and very little personal detail. I don't know if this is because there WAS no private man behind the public face, or if it was the author's choice. But "A Full Cup" is the book we have, and it's a glorious, larger-than-life book and well worth a reader's time.

Linda Bulger, 2010

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Okay, September 10, 2010

By 

Terry Crock (Massillon, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Full Cup: Sir Thomas Lipton's Extraordinary Life and His Quest for the America's Cup (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

This is a well-written book that covers the subject well. However, I didn't find it all that absorbing because Lipton's guest for the America's Cup just didn't hold my interest.

I thought how Lipton started out from nothing and made himself into a very wealthy man was the most interesting part of the book.

This really is a decent book; I am just not a big sailing fan. My guess would be those that have a greater interest in sailing will find this a more enjoyable book than I did.

It is a good story, well-written and covers the subject well. The subject, however, just didn't interest me that much. So my review rating really could be considered a bigger reflection on my enjoyment of the subject more than the quality of the book.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An Over-Full Cup, July 16, 2010

By 

W. A. Carpenter (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Full Cup: Sir Thomas Lipton's Extraordinary Life and His Quest for the America's Cup (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Michael D'Antonio's A Full Cup is a well-written and interesting biography of Sir Thomas Lipton of Lipton Tea fame. He chronicles Lipton's life from a slum in Glasgow to his life as a rich, influential businessman. He provides lots of interesting details about Lipton's genius for self-promotion and publicity. And he includes anything anyone could want to know about Lipton's quest to win the America's Cup, a famous sailing trophy.

This is a biography that may well provide more information about its subject than most people want to know. We learn the details of Lipton's miserable childhood, his apparent homosexuality, and his world-wide business dealings. Fortunately, we also get a great portrait of Victorian England and of the U.S. during the same period, which I found more interesting than the details about Lipton's life.