Shop worker

The Telegraph City Diary believes former Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy is a contender for Chairman of the BBC - so we'd better look at his current form.

Dad was a carpenter-turned-merchant navy seaman injured in the Second World War, and has been variously described as a greyhound trainer and bookie; mum was a nurse. Terry was born and brought up in a two-bedroom aluminium prefab, in the ludicrously-named Belle Vale area in Liverpool. It's Britain's largest collection of prefabs, at over 1,000, built in the immediate post-war years to rehouse those who'd been bombed out.

He went to St Edward's College ('my salvation'), then run by the Christian Brothers, and onto UMIST, for a BSc in Management Studies. In 1979 he joined Tesco, as a shelf stacker in south London - and stayed for 32 years, the last 14 as CEO. Since departing, in 2011, he's become a sort of serial investor in emerging retail operations. They include B&M Retail, which has a growing chain of 380 discount shops; Scottish online tyre fitters Black Circles, operating out of Peebles; Eagle Eye, a digital voucher company; The Hut, which operates a range of online shopping sites from its headquarters in Northwich, with a big distribution centre in Warrington; Anatwine and Starcount, both offering services analysing sales data; and Metapack which supplies delivery management software to companies like John Lewis, Asos and Lakeland.

Tesco was a sort of leitmotif in the 2010 election campaign - Gordon Brown had an uncomfortable visit to a branch in Hastings, but Terry actually turned up for Dave and Samantha in Holywell.

He's worked alongside Michael Heseltine on business initiatives in Liverpool, which set up a tour of the city with David Cameron. In March last year, he

wrote in the FT largely backing George Osborne's financial strategy, but calling for more cuts in both public spending and taxation.  Previously Gordon Brown asked him to reform the NHS, but he declined. In 2012, he published "Management in 10 Words".  They are Truth, Loyalty, Courage, Values, Act, Balance, Simple, Lean, Compete and Trust.

He lives in Cuffley, supports and advises Everton FC, and likes Downtown Abbey.