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Roland 'Tiny' Rowland ( 1917 - 1998 ) was a British businessman and chairman of the Lonrho conglomerate from 1962 to 1994 . He gained fame from a number of high-profile takeover bids, in particular his bid to take control of Harrods . GERMAN BACKGROUND Rowland, originally Roland Walter Fuhrhop, was born on November 17 , 1917 in a World War I detention camp for aliens in India , as the child of an Anglo-Dutch mother and a German trader father. At first denied access to the United Kingdom after the war, he and his family moved to Great Britain in 1937 , where he attended the renowned Churcher's College , Petersfield, Hampshire . After working for his father's merchant business, he was again detained as an alien on the outbreak of World War II . While in detention he adopted his uncle's surname – Rowland. RHODESIA In the post-war years, Tiny Rowland moved to Rhodesia . Rowland was recruited to the London and Rhodesian Mining and Land Company, later Lonrho , as chief executive in 1962 . Under his directorship, the firm expanded out of its origins in mining and became a conglomerate, dealing in newspapers, hotels, distribution, and textiles, and many other lines of business. In Britain, he became chairman of '' The Observer '' in 1983 . However, he failed to gain control of Harrods department store in Knightsbridge , which was eventually bought by the Egyptian-born tycoon Mohamed Al-Fayed for £615 million in 1985 , leading to a well-publicised feud between the two men. HONOURED Never fully accepted by the establishment in Britain, Rowland was consistently overlooked when it came to the award of British honours. However, in 1996 President Nelson Mandela awarded Rowland the ''Order of Good Hope'', the highest South Africa n honour. He died in London on July 26 , 1998 . EXTERNAL LINKS
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