Jim Marshall

Awards and honours In 1984 Marshall was awarded the Queen's Award for Export, an honour bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom in recognition of Marshall Amplification's outstanding export achievement over a three-year period. Marshall was a member of the Grand Order of Water Rats.

Charities and endowments

Jim Marshall donated millions of pounds to the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore, London, where he was treated for tuberculosis as a child. Marshalls were one of the earliest shirt sponsors for Milton Keynes Dons.

Marshall was a member of the Grand Order of Water Rats, serving in office for the charitable entertainment fraternity.

The 400-seat Jim Marshall Auditorium at The Stables Theatre, Wavendon, Milton Keynes is named after him, and celebrates his friendship with Sir John Dankworth and Dame Cleo Laine, the theatre's founders.

Death, legacy and tribute

Jim Marshall died on 5 April 2012, at a hospice in Milton Keynes. He was 88 years old. Slash, Marshall has been cited, along with Leo Fender, Les Paul and Seth Lover, as one of the four forefathers of rock music equipment.

Every year on 5 April guitarists from all over the world post videos containing 1 minute of feedback, instead of 1 minute of silence, as a tribute.

On 6 April 2013 musicians and music lovers held a tribute music festival in Hanwell, West London, the town where Jim Marshall sold his first amplifier. A plaque was unveiled near the site.