CEO Secrets: from Ordsall Poverty to being A Billionaire
CEO Secrets: From Ordsall poverty to being a billionaire
24 November 2021
ByDougal Shaw
Business press reporter, BBC News
Peter Done speaks about his journey from a denied childhood in Salford in the north of England, to ending up being a self-made billionaire, for our organization advice series CEO Secrets. He co-founded the wagering chain Betfred with his bro Fred Done in the late 1960s, before taking the helm of HR company Peninsula, which he runs today in Manchester.
Peter Done has an abiding memory from his youth: a pillow being shoved in his face.
The perpetrator was Fred, his older bro by four years. He shared a bed with him till he was 15 in the household's two-up, two-down in Ordsall, called the "shanty towns of Salford". Their two siblings oversleeped the space too.
"To this day I have claustrophobia from the pillow," chuckles Done junior. "I was probably a bit saucy and he was larger than me."
But it was the effective relationship with his bro that would be the secret to his success in life. The brother or sisters found a route out of poverty by constructing up an empire of wagering shops, amassing themselves a billion-pound household fortune, making them a regular fixture on the Sunday Times Rich List, external.
Both Done brothers left school at 15 with no credentials.
However, they discovered work in a chain of wagering stores in Manchester. Like bars, these establishments flourished in bad locations. They had actually only been legalised in the UK in 1961. There had actually been issues about their social effect, along with the really morality of betting.
Done was managing a wagering shop at 17 although he legally couldn't get in the facilities.
The owner valued him for his skill at mathematics. He cared for the books, mentally number crunching the stakes, revenues and losses.
CEO Secrets: From Ordsall poverty to being a billionaire
24 November 2021
ByDougal Shaw
Business press reporter, BBC News
Peter Done speaks about his journey from a denied childhood in Salford in the north of England, to ending up being a self-made billionaire, for our organization advice series CEO Secrets. He co-founded the wagering chain Betfred with his bro Fred Done in the late 1960s, before taking the helm of HR company Peninsula, which he runs today in Manchester.
Peter Done has an abiding memory from his youth: a pillow being shoved in his face.
The perpetrator was Fred, his older bro by four years. He shared a bed with him till he was 15 in the household's two-up, two-down in Ordsall, called the "shanty towns of Salford". Their two siblings oversleeped the space too.
"To this day I have claustrophobia from the pillow," chuckles Done junior. "I was probably a bit saucy and he was larger than me."
But it was the effective relationship with his bro that would be the secret to his success in life. The brother or sisters found a route out of poverty by constructing up an empire of wagering shops, amassing themselves a billion-pound household fortune, making them a regular fixture on the Sunday Times Rich List, external.
Both Done brothers left school at 15 with no credentials.
However, they discovered work in a chain of wagering stores in Manchester. Like bars, these establishments flourished in bad locations. They had actually only been legalised in the UK in 1961. There had actually been issues about their social effect, along with the really morality of betting.
Done was managing a wagering shop at 17 although he legally couldn't get in the facilities.
The owner valued him for his skill at mathematics. He cared for the books, mentally number crunching the stakes, revenues and losses.