Gavin Wheeldon: 'Named after a bank; shocking the Dragons; turning the world purple'

Fittingly for a man who was named after a bank, Gavin Wheeldon has spent much of his life making money.

His parents still hadn’t chosen a middle name when they stopped off a branch of Lloyds Bank enroute to his christening – and decided to call him Lloyd.

At the age of 11 he started buying window locks, chains and spy holes for 50p and selling them fitted for £5.50 - giving some of the proceeds to his Mum.

At the age of 14 he lied to his bosses to get a telesales job selling kitchens at night – and quickly became the star salesman.

The young Wheeldon attended 20 per cent of his last year at school – and it was only years later that his behaviour was explained when he was diagnosed with ADHD.

In 2003 he launched his business - Applied Language Solutions (ALS) - with the help of a second mortga ...