General Film Distributors

[1][2] In 1936, J. Arthur Rank and the paper magnate Lord Portal,[3] convinced him to make it a daughter company to their General Cinema Finance Corporation, which had just acquired the British distribution rights for all Universal Pictures titles (by buying a large chunk of Universal in the US).

[6] Rank Film Distributors was acquired by Carlton Communications in 1997 and closed.

Woolf's secretary who devised the man-with-a-gong trademark which was adopted by the Rank Organisation when it was founded in 1937.

[2] Athletes who played the Gongman in the film sequence over the years, included boxer Bombardier Billy Wells and wrestler Ken Richmond.

However, as a DVD distributor, GFD is possibly related to the original company.