Mary Perkins running PR. She has admitted donning disguises and visiting Specsavers stores, posing as a customer. Perkins was made an honorary fellow of Cardiff University in 2005. The same year she received the "Rotary International Community and Vocational Service Award" for her services to charity and in 2006 won the inaugural Spirit of everywoman Award. Perkins was the first female optician in the UK to receive the title of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2007. The accolade was also in recognition of her other charitable work, including the Guernsey annual "Specsavers Liberation Tea Dance for
Thiele (retail opticians) Thiele (retail opticians) Thiele is a chain of retail opticians headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. The company is owned by Jens Henrik Brandt (95%) and Profil Optik (5%). The company was founded in 1817 when Frederik Anton Thiele (1792-1859) was granted a royal license to "manufacture and sell any kind of astronomic, mathematical, chemical, physical, optical, mineralogical and mechanical instrument or device". His son Johan Christian Thiele, who had studied both at the College of Advanced Technology and abroad, took on the company following the death of his father in 1859. He expanded the business but died died just 39 years