The film director Stanley Kubrick wanted to use a log cabin built by Shenton, which was part-suspended over a lake in Stanmore, North London, and decked out in avant-garde furniture, in his masterpiece A Clockwork Orange (1971).
In the 1960s Shenton masterminded the launch of Dixons photo-processing business, pioneering the highly profitable mass use of mail-order processing, while Kalms concentrated on the retail side.
A heavy focus on marketing, with mail-order forms placed in countless magazines and free films being given away at petrol stations, paid off nicely for Dixons.
The two had contrasting visions — Shenton was convinced of the potential for one-hour processing on the high street, but Kalms wanted to focus on the core retail business.
His decision to place the processing machines in shop windows so that passers-by could see the photos coming out proved a strong attraction, although staff had to cover any pictures of nudity.
With the threat of digital technology looming, he decided to sell the business seven years later to George Oliver, the shoe retailer, in a deal worth up to £3.87 million and the move proved well timed.
The Oliver Group soon sold on the business after it failed to thrive, and today photographic outlets are still struggling to be profitable in an age where consumers are more inclined to keep digital photos on PCs than get them printed.