Sir Tom Hunter inspired to give £1m charity donation to composer with dementia

Scotland’s first ever homegrown millionaire, Sir Tom Hunter, has been inspired to give a £1 million charity donation after watching a video of an 80 year-old composer with dementia play his own musical piece made up of only four notes.

Sir Tom Hunter made his money through property and sports goods.

Paul Harvey, a former music teacher from Sussex, was diagnosed with dementia last year and since then, both him and his son, Nick Harvey have been seeking to raise funds for dementia charities. After Paul's song, ‘Four Notes’, a piece of musical improvisation, went viral, it has has been topping various download charts with all proceeds going to charity.

Sir Hunter, who lost both parents to Alzheimer's, heard the song on BBC Breakfast and was compelled to show his support by donating a million pounds from his ‘The Hunter Foundation which seeks to invest in charities across the world.

Sir Tom Hunter announced his generous donation on BBC Breakfast this morning, saying to Mr Harvey: "We were so moved, my wife and I, when we saw your wonderful piece on BBC Breakfast, and in a time when people are searching for good news, you lit up the screen, with, first of all, the relationship between the father and son, and then the relationship with music.

"So my wife Marion and I would like to help you, by donating a million pounds from the Hunter Foundation to help put a light into trying to release people from Alzheimer's.

He added: "We really believe music is a key. We really believe you're onto something and we really want to help.

“In this confusing time some things never change and the things that never change are a father's love for his son and a son's love for his father."

Paul who was moved to tears by the announcement, said: "I didn't think that I could be moved much more now but I can."

The donation will be split between the Alzheimer's Society and Music for Dementia.

The clip of Mr Harvey playing his song went viral and the song was released as a single on Sunday after recording it with the BBC Philharmonic orchestra.

Mr Harvey’s song came about as his son said it had been an "old party trick" of his father's to request four random notes and then improvise a song.

A message from the Editor:Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.