Margaret Thatcher was lucky in her political timing and now the former Prime Minister’s recent death has provided a boost for a new book co-written by Bradford-born marketing guru David Hopper.

The Branded Gentry features interviews that David and co-author Charles Vallance – whose family once ran a chain of electrical stores around Yorkshire, including branches in Bradford and Ilkley – conducted with leading entrepreneurs whose businesses carry their name.

One of the subjects is Lord Bell of Belgravia, founder of global PR business Bell Pottinger who, as plain Tim Bell, helped craft and promote Mrs T’s image after she became leader of the Conservative Party. With her death more or less coinciding with publication of The Branded Gentry, that topical connection ensured the book received a high level of national publicity.

The first chapter includes an account of Bell’s first meeting with the then Leader of the Opposition when he was working for Saatchi & Saatchi – expletives included. Baroness Thatcher helped make his name and became his heroine and was at Lord Bell’s side when he was introduced into the House of Lords – so the close connection paid off for Hopper and Vallance after she died.

“Baroness Thatcher’s death four days after the book was published generated enormous levels of debate and coverage and worked in our favour. As the profiles in the book underline, you need a bit of luck as well as determination to succeed,” said David Hopper.

Now 58, David is a Bradford lad who successfully followed the Dick Whittington route to the capital and is now at the forefront of his profession. He runs his own market research and branding consultancy H2, with clients including Bollinger, McDonalds, Nokia, 02, Pernod Ricard, Sloggi and Standard Life and has 20 years of international experience.

The son of a former miner turned postman and a housewife mother who did part-time jobs to help make ends meet, David grew up in a terraced house at Bradford Moor and attended St Bede’s school.

During the holidays David worked at a local garage and after his dad spotted an advert in the Telegraph & Argus he landed a job washing the bosses’ cars at Morrisons’ head office on Thornton Road, including Sir Ken Morrisons’ Mercedes 280SE, which stood out from the Morris Marinas, Hillman Hunters and Cortinas used by other company car drivers as the business burgeoned across West Yorkshire.

He left Bradford by bus at the age of 18 to read English Literature and philosophy at Southampton university. Apart from holidays and occasional visits back home, he’s not spent much time in the city of his birth since – and now has no direct family connections following his parents’ deaths.

But he has fond memories of the place.

“During the 1960s Bradford was still a vibrant and very proud city. It’s a shame that it’s had some bad times and I hope it will regenerate itself successfully and get that pride back. I’m aware of some of the improvements to the city centre and really hope that Bradford manages to overcome the negative perceptions some people have of it.

“I have happy memories and retain a fondness, although no detailed knowledge these days of my native city. But I wish it well.

“One of the things that I discovered when I moved to the South was the lack of knowledge, and interest in what happens up North. I had taken it for granted that more people would know about it,” he said.

David moved to London in the early 1980s. His arrival coincided with the surge in the creative sector, with PR and advertising agencies and market research companies beginning to come into vogue.

“I really enjoyed university. Loved it. But I didn’t have any plans about what to do afterwards. I did some teaching in Southampton but then headed for London in the hope I suppose of finding opportunities there.

“It was the time when the City was liberated, of Yuppies, big bucks and all that went with the Thatcher revolution. It was also when advertising was making its mark including highly-regarded and memorable TV commercials for Hamlet cigars, Heineken and Audi cars,” said David.

He started working for a market research company where he carried out ‘qualitative market research’ to get feedback on products or services from small groups of respondents – focus groups – on behalf of blue chip clients.

“We were using focus groups long before Tony Blair ever heard of them,” noted David.

In his introduction to The Branded Gentry, he recalls his time working for that traditional local garage, which closed down two years after he left.

He contrasts that with the forward-looking outlook of Morrisons which used plastic signs rather than wood or metal because things changed quickly in the retail market.

He writes: “Speed of service, stock management, and volumes of footfall were the new indicators of success. Wm Morrison was a retail brand that had its sights set on a future of fast-moving consumer goods transience. The next phase of wealth creation was replacing the last. Out with the old and in with the new. By 1978 my old employer would have closed down but by 2011 Morrisons would have 455 stores.”

He believes the tailwind for such change was Mrs Thatcher and more recently the internet, which enables anyone to become an entrepreneur from their bedroom or garden shed – and reach a worldwide market in seconds.

l The Branded Gentry (£20 hardback) is published by Elliott & Thompson.