Thomas Cook of Melbourne, Derbyshire, England founded the travel agency that in 2007 became Thomas Cook Group. Cook's idea to offer excursions came to him while waiting for the stagecoach on the London Road at Kibworth. With the opening of the extended Midland Counties Railway, he arranged to take a group of 540 temperance campaigners from Leicester Campbell Street station to a rally in Loughborough, eleven miles away. On 5 July 1841, Thomas Cook arranged for the rail company to charge one shilling per person that included rail tickets and food for this train journey. Cook was paid a share of the fares actually charged to the passengers, as the railway tickets, being legal contracts between company and passenger, could not have been issued at his own price. This was the first privately chartered excursion train to be advertised to the general public.... More • http://en.wikipedia. ... homas_Cook View • Books • Images • Videos • Search Related • Entrepreneurs • Founders • 1840s • Great Britain • Industrial Revolution • Institutions • Travel • People