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 denied youth in Salford in the north of England, to becoming a self-made billionaire, for our company recommendations 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 youth: a pillow being shoved in his face. The offender was Fred, his senior brother by 4 years. He shared a bed with him until he was 15 in the family's two-up, two-down in Ordsall, referred to as the "slums of Salford". Their two sisters oversleeped the room too. "To this day I have claustrophobia from the pillow," chuckles Done junior. "I was most likely a bit cheeky and he was bigger than me." But it was the effective relationship with his sibling that would be the secret to his success in life. The brother or sisters discovered a route out of hardship by developing an empire of wagering stores, 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 wagering stores in Manchester. Like clubs, these facilities thrived in poor areas. They had actually just been legalised in the UK in 1961. There had been issues about their social impact, along with the very morality of gambling. Done was handling a betting store at 17 despite the fact that he lawfully couldn't enter the properties. The owner valued him for his ability at maths. He cared for the books, psychologically number crunching the stakes, revenues and losses.