THE North-East is famous for many things, coal mining, ship building and the railways, but entrepreneurial spirit is not one of them.

Although our region is steadily improving, thanks to the efforts of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum and One North East, it still has the lowest number of business start ups per head than any other region.

Sir John Hall, the former miner who built Europe’s biggest shopping malls on a power station ash dump, is a shining example of what vision, hard work and ambition can achieve.

He was the only one who could see that the 100-acre ash dump in Dunston had a potential catchment area of three million people – and he convinced enough investors to enable him to build the MetroCentre.

Built for a cost of £70m, when Sir John sold up ten years later it was worth £364m. Today, it is valued at more than £1bn.

Having done what some people said was impossible and made a great deal of money, most ordinary folk would have retired to enjoy a life of luxury.

But Sir John Hall is no ordinary businessman. He went on to transform the fortunes of Newcastle United Football Club and turned Newcastle Falcons into the world’s first fully professional rugby club.

Sir John seemed unstoppable, until earlier this year when he was diagnosed with incurable cancer.

But nothing, it seems, can keep him down – not even cancer – and yesterday he announced plans to create a lasting legacy for the North-East. We have no doubt that he will be around to see his world-class rose garden finished.

Sir John, we salute you.