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Place your bid to find out what a tycoon like Sir Philip is thinking
Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent26 Oct 2009
A charity auction is giving people the chance to get inside the minds of some of Britain's most successful figures in business, sports and entertainment.
Topshop tycoon Sir Philip Green, Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger and author Sir Salman Rushdie are among those auctioning 60 minutes of their time in the Krug Mindshare event.
Online bids open today for the chance of a private audience with names including Mamma Mia! producer Judy Craymer, Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massanet, advertising guru Sir Martin Sorrell and Chinese pianist Lang Lang.
The three highest bidders for each "mind" will then be invited to a live auction at Christie's on 5 November to settle who wins. It is hoped to raise at least £250,000, based on what such people might make as after-dinner speakers or as consultants.
Wenger has chosen Great Ormond Street Hospital as the beneficiary of bids for him while Sir Martin has picked Jewish Care. Sir Salman, Ms Massanet and Ms Craymer have named breast cancer charities
To promote the auction, artist Duncan Cargill has "drawn" the participants' minds. It was this idea that attracted Craymer, who has become a millionaire on the back of her idea for the Abba-based musical. "I had to laugh that anybody would want to draw my mind," she said. "I was imagining this empty space. It's a fun thing to do and it's nice to be in a position where you can help. I was a little tickled."
Mamma Mia! fans might just want to chat, but Craymer said the private audience could be a serious opportunity for people with ideas: "The group of us will all have different advice to offer. Creating a show like Mamma Mia! was very much about instincts. It's not textbook stuff."
It was "humbling" to be among the intellectual might of her fellow minds, she added. Proceeds from her bids will go to breast cancer research at the Royal Marsden Hospital.
Arsenal have a campaign to raise funds for a new lung function unit at Great Ormond Street. Wenger said: "The team and I met some of the patients just before the beginning of the season and the strength and courage they showed was astounding."
