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 discusses his journey from a deprived youth in Salford in the north of England, to becoming a self-made billionaire, for our organization advice series CEO Secrets. He co-founded the betting chain Betfred with his brother Fred Done in the late 1960s, before taking the helm of HR firm Peninsula, which he runs today in Manchester. Peter Done has an abiding memory from his childhood: a pillow being pushed in his face. The offender was Fred, his older brother by 4 years. He shared a bed with him up until he was 15 in the family's two-up, two-down in Ordsall, referred to as the "slums of Salford". Their 2 sisters oversleeped the space too. "To this day I have claustrophobia from the pillow," laughs Done junior. "I was probably a bit saucy and he was larger than me." But it was the effective relationship with his sibling that would be the key to his success in life. The siblings discovered a route out of poverty by building up an empire of betting shops, amassing themselves a billion-pound family fortune, making them a regular fixture on the Sunday Times Rich List, external. Both Done siblings left school at 15 with no credentials. However, they discovered employment in a chain of betting shops in Manchester. Like bars, these establishments flourished in bad locations. They had actually just been legalised in the UK in 1961. There had been concerns about their social impact, in addition to the extremely morality of betting. Done was handling a betting store at 17 despite the fact that he lawfully could not get in the properties. The owner valued him for his ability at maths. He cared for the books, mentally number crunching the stakes, profits and losses.