The Photopia group of companies was created by a young entrepeneur named Charles Gad Strasser. The evolution and eventual formation of Photopia Ltd around 1959 (the trademark name Photopia had been in extensive use for at least two years previous), which subsequently transferred into a public company called Photopia International in 1962, is related below. Some of the information, and my original inspiration, comes from a brief article originally published in the February 1963 edition of 'Photography' magazine. The majority of the information, however, comes from personal research, much assisted by a complimentary copy of Charles Strasser's autobiography, "From Refugee to OBE".

Charles Strasser's life story autobiography "From Refugee to OBE" was published on 23rd April 2007. It can be purchased either through Ian Rosewell of the UK web site www.skylog.co.uk (scroll down to the bottom right and click on Strasser) or via the US publisher Wade Keller (at Keller Publishing, based on Marco Island, Florida). The skylog site contains the following prelude:

"THE LIFE OF CHARLES GAD STRASSER is well captured in the title, 'From Refugee to OBE'. The reader will find not only a passionate personal story of one man's climbing of the mountain, but also an important historical rendition from war-torn Europe to the flourishing industries and institutions which have contributed to our current prosperous world. Charles Strasser fled from his native Czechoslovakia when he was 11 in 1938 just barely in advance of the Nazi war machine. Six years later he joined the allied armies and participated in the final victory. Before his twenty-first birthday he founded a company that would employ hundreds and have an international scope, with ties to Germany, Japan and many developing countries. While he excelled in business, it was for his many humanitarian services that he was awarded the distinction, Officer of the Order of the British Empire. He received his OBE from Her Majesty the Queen at an investiture in Buckingham Palace, 5th December 2000. The reader is invited to come along with Charles Strasser on his exciting journey from refugee to OBE."

In 'Photography' magazine's February 1963 issue, an editorial coulmn entitled 'What goes on...' contained an article entitled: 'Go-Getter'. The following draws on that 1963 magazine article, but it is ammended and extended here to reflect information within Charles' 2007 autobiography.

The 1963 article began "A remarkable young man is Charles G. Strasser, chairman of Photopia International Ltd, the holding company of Photopia Ltd and Japanese Cameras Ltd. He started in business on his own account in the photographic trade at age 20. In 1947, with a loan of £350 and one camera, he started as a professional photographer in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire."

His first business was a photographic studio at 19 Hassell Street, where he traded as "Charles G.Strasser, Newcastle Studios". The business soon expanded to include a developing & printing service for customer films and the retailing of simple low cost, UK manufactured, photographic equipment (e.g from Coronet, in Birmingham).

Early in 1949, before imports from Western Germany became possible again following World War II, Charles arranged an agency to import German cameras from Dr.Max Wirgin, of Messrs. Wirgin Kamera Werke of Wiesbaden. Although at the time of securing this agency there was no immediate prospect of importing cameras, just 4 months later the UK Board of Trade announced arrangements enabling the controlled importation of cameras from Germany. Each imported camera could be valued at no higher than £5.10s (£5.05p) including freight and insurance charges (CIF) into a UK port. The £5.10s CIF restriction limited potential importation to Wirgin's cheapest and simplest 35mm camera, called the Edinex (see below, RHS) but, convinced of the pent-up demand within the UK, Charles ordered a delivery of 100.

By 1950, "Charles G.Strasser, Newcastle Studios" began trading as North Staffs Photographic Services. His activities further expanded to include wholesale photo finishing, i.e. the developing and printing of films for 60 chemists and photographic dealers in the surrounding area.

Wateler was one manufacturer with a useful range of accesssories and a good relationship was formed, importing 'Wata' brand equipment.

Another important realisation was that consumable items like films, processing chemicals, flash bulbs etc had a much bigger sales potential than e.g. a camera, which was purchased only rarely.

An obscure German man called Mr Kissling invented a 'Flash Button' to use instead of the much more expensive (around 4x) glass flashbulbs. The Flash Button consisted of a little cardboard container about the size of a tap washer, filled with a controlled amount of flash powder. The base was card, coated with conductive silver (aluminium ?) paper which could be inserted into a special flashgun and the Buttons were 'fired', either manually or via a synchronised shutter.

Charles was keen to find ways around the beaurocratic 'red tape' restricting the growth of his business and found that camera accessories, such as rangefinders and exposure meters, could be imported regardless of value and without any quota limitations. So, he telephoned Wirgin and arranged that their £7 camera with built-in rangefinder (hence too expensive to import as a single item) be packaged with the rangefinder removed, the latter shipped separately in a temporaray housing. In the UK, Charles set up an assembly line to re-insert and collimate the rangefinders back inside the camera bodies - hence enabling him to extend his distribution range of products to a sophistication others couldn't match. "We did the same exercise with built-in exposure meters, and that gave us further models without competition."

By 1953, Wirgin had developed a new, smarter apperance 35mm cameras, under the brand name Edina, which was advertised by Norths Staffs Photographic Services in Amateur Photographer, in time for the June 1953 Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. To see a full page advertisement for the Edina, click here. A Dollonds Phoptographic Service (28, Old Bond Street, London, W.1) advert in AP for May 6th 1953, proclaims "Announced to-day!"

By 1955 the Edina had became renamed Edixa. There were models Edixa 1P (with 4-speed Pronto shutter) and Edixa II P and Edixa II SVS (with 8-speed Prontor SVS shutter), both with a coupled rangefinder. Eventually (by 1957, though initially subject to import restrictions) the Wirgin camera range encompassed the sophisticated Edixa Reflex interchangeable lens, single lens reflex (slr) cameras.

Through hard work, re-investment and taking advantages of opportunities whenever they came along - as well as building up around him a young and enthusiastic team - more and more overseas manufacturers of photographic apparatus placed their confidence in Mr Strasser, and the products of more and more firms were distributed to the trade by North Staffs Photographic Services.

North Staffs Photographic Services moved premises from Hassell Street to Ball's Yard, Newcastle, around 1955. By mid-1956, Charles opened a London office at 36, Wardour Street, Piccadilly, enabling his Newcastle company to compete on a level basis with rival distributors operating in the London area. Wardour Street was in the seedy 'Soho' area of London, so eventually, by the mid-1960s, the Wardour Street premises were upgraded, first to Noel Street (still in Soho) but 12 months later into a showroom on Regent Street, one of the main shopping streets in the West End of London.

The first own-brand item was a box camera from the Vredeborch factory run by Mr Krause.
Later they produced a simple but stylish 120 roll film camera called the Felita (later Felica), priced £2.16.8d (£2.83p) in mid-1960.

A 6x6cm negative 120 roll film camera imported in 1960 was the Durst 66, with 8-speed shutter and built-in extinction type light meter, priced £8.7s.2d (£8.36p).

North Staffs Photographic Services formally changed its name to Photopia Limited (a limited company), around 1959. However, the trademark name 'Photopia' had been in extensive use at least two years prior to the formal company name changeover to Photopia Ltd.

Photopia was initially applied to 'own brand' products but it was subsequently used as the general trading name for all North Staffs Photographic Services. The name was intended to stand for the 'Utopia of Photography'.

As the importation and wholesale national distribution business expanded, Photopia Ltd moved to its well known Hempstalls Lane address (by 1963) and the previous professional photography and retailing activities ceased.

Before it was possible to import cameras from Japan (Japanese photographic equipment already had an excellent reputation in the USA), Charles Strasser investigated this source of supply and made advance arrangements for importation to commence once Government restrictions were relaxed. He was ready 'to go' on what turned out to be a most valuable branch of activity, well before most of his competitots.

In 1957, a quota system for camera imports from Japan was introduced, albeit only £15,000 for the whole of the UK. Nonetheless, Charles' prior arrangements meant he was immediately able to apply for a part of this quota and start importation via a company created in advance, readied for this, named Japanese Cameras Ltd, which had the postal address of 50 Piccadilly, Tunstall, Stoke on Trent. The formation of Japanese Cameras Ltd came as the result of one of Charles' earliest trips to Japan (around 1954) when he met with the very small but long established camera firm called Chiyoda Kogaku Seiko KK, which produced cameras under the brand name Minolta. The first cameras imported from 1957 were the Minolta Autocord, a 120 roll film twin lens reflex (TLR) similar to the German Rolleiflex & Rolleicord, and two 35mm viewfinder cameras. The sophisticated Minolta 35mm single lens reflex (slr) cameras like the Minolta SR-2 (1958), SR-1 (1959) and SR-3 (1960) and SR-7 (1962) appeared later.

By mid-1960 (see, Amateur Photographer Camera Guide for 8th June 1960) Japanese Cameras Ltd were importing the Minolta A & Super A, the Autowide, the 35 Model II and the V2, all being viewfinder cameras and fore-runners to the highly successful Himatic series, of which the Himatic-7 famously went into space with US Col.John Glenn on 20th February 1962. The same AP Guide also lists the Minolta SR-1 and SR-2 single lens reflex cameras and the TLR Autocord incl. the 'L' model with built-in exposure meter and the Miniflex, a 127 roll film TLR competing with the 'Baby' Rolleiflex.

The Minolta agency lasted until 1980 when Minolta set up new import arrangements through their own organisation, named Minolta UK Ltd. Fortunately, Charles had already negotiated to take up the Ricoh agency when Minolta went 'independent' and so on 1st January 1980 there was a seamless changeover.

Photopia Ltd and Japanese Cameras Ltd operated with separate sales forces and independent advertising, and their growth was phenomenal. In 1962 there was a declared profit in excess of £100,000, enabling the organisation to apply for listing on the London Stock Exchange. Hence, Photopia International was 'floated' as a public company on 19th November 1962 with an issued and fully paid share capital of £250,000.

Paul Plus was created around 1964 as part of Charles' philosophy of operating a number of companies, all with their own product range and salesmen, and each having their own relationship with the dealer network.

Michael Mandel has e-mailed to tell me that he was employed as an Area Manager from 1965-1968 within Paul Plus Ltd, which operated out of 29 King Street, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffs. They sold a range of goods under the PLUS precision products label, initially slide projection equipment but later also cine cameras and accessories.

It was Michael who first alerted me to Charles Strasser's autobiography "From Refugee to OBE" (see the top of this page), published by Wade Keller in April 2007.

As you can read on the history page of Johnsons of Hendon, in 1985 Johnsons acquired the Photopia Group. In 1989 the two companies were finally amalgamated under the Johnsons Photopia banner. Johnsons Photopia Ltd's current Hempstalls Lane address is the original home of Photopia Ltd.

December 2004
I heard from Paul Roper, Marketing Manager of Johnsons Photopia (Hempstalls Lane, Newcastle Under Lyme, Staffordshire, ST5 0SW) that Charles Strasser is enjoying his retirement on Jersey. Charles has been in touch to confirm this !

October 2007
Charles has been in touch again to tell me that every 5 years, on his birthday, he throws a party in North Staffordshire for ex-employees of his Photopia companies and usually about 100 attend. The last one was this April ('07) at Keele University when Charles celebrated his 80th birthday. Charles is still in good health and presently "winterising" on Marco Island in Florida (see below).

While enjoying life on Marco Island, Florida, Charles alerted me to the picture alongside which appeared in 25th February 2008 edition of "Marco Island Eagle" newspaper.

It shows Charles with friend Dorothea Evans playing the black jack table during an American Cancer Society fund raising event called the Cattle Barons' Ball, held at the Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort. The 'gamblers' won raffle tickets for prizes given away at the end of the night.

Copyright acknowledged to Aaron Hale.

In the 1957 Photopia "Catalogue & Price List of Selected Photographic Equipment", Charles Strasser writes a foreword entitled "Best by Test" saying "It is our aim to offer selected products, the best of their kind, wherever they may be made, at keen competitive prices, giving at all times good value for money. Being proud of our reputation we back all our products with a speedy after sales service".

The same promise is repeated in the 1963 catalogue.