Look up Britain in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Britain may refer to:

• United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in western Europe
  • Kingdom of Great Britain, a sovereign state from 1707 to 1801
  • United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, a sovereign state from 1801 to 1922 (and between 1922 and 1927 in its superseded form)
• Great Britain, the largest island in the British Isles and the largest island in Europe
  • Great Britain (disambiguation)
  • Prehistoric Britain, Britain prior to 43 AD
  • Roman Britain or Britannia, a Roman province covering most of modern England and Wales and some of southern Scotland from 43 to 410 AD
  • Sub-Roman Britain, Britain from 410 AD to 597
  • Britain in the Middle Ages, various parts of Britain from 410 AD to 1485
  • Early Modern Britain, Britain from the Tudor period, from 1485 to 1707
• Britain (placename), the place name Britain and its toponymy
• British Isles, a group of islands that includes Great Britain, Ireland, and other islands
  • Terminology of the British Isles, discusses the sometimes ambiguous or contentious names for parts of the island group
• British Empire, during the 19th to early 20th century
• British (disambiguation), adjective meaning from/of Britain; and derived senses

Other places[link]

• Britain, Virginia, an unincorporated village in Loudoun County, Virginia, USA
• Brittany or Lesser Britain, a region of France settled by ancient Britons
  • Brittany (disambiguation)

People with the surname[link]

• Calvin Britain 1800–1862, American politician from Michigan
• Kristen Britain, novelist from New York state

See also[link]

• Captain Britain, a Marvel Comics superhero
• W. Britain, a toy soldier company
• Britannia (disambiguation), a personification of Britain; and derived senses
• New Britain (disambiguation)
• Britten (disambiguation)
• Brittain (disambiguation)
• Briton (disambiguation)
• Brython, a pre-Roman inhabitant of Great Britain
• All pages beginning with "Britain"

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (December 2010)

Sir Philip Green
Green in 2007
Born	(1952-03-15) 15 March 1952 (age 60) Croydon, London, England
Nationality	British
Occupation	Businessman
Years active	1967–present
Net worth	£3.3 bilion (2012)[1]
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Tina Green
Children	Chloe, Joshua, & Brandon

Sir Philip Green (born 15 March 1952) is a British businessman. Green began as a businessman at the age of 15. The first and last quoted company Green took lead of was "Amber Day", from which he stepped down as CEO and Chairman in 1992. Since then he has had links to a range of British companies; including a hostile bid for Marks and Spencer and the management of the Arcadia Group, both alongside or supporting his wife. He has been involved in a range of controversies related to both his personal and business life.

Biography[link]

Philip Green was born on 15 March 1952 in Croydon, in South London,^[2] and has a sister, Elizabeth, five years his senior. His family moved to Hampstead Garden Suburb, a middle-class enclave in north London, and at the age of nine he was sent to the now-closed Jewish boarding school Carmel College in Oxfordshire. When his father died of a heart attack, Philip was in line to inherit the family business at the age of twelve. After leaving boarding school at 15, he worked for a shoe importer before travelling to the US, Europe and the Far East. It was on his return that he set up his first business with a £20,000 loan, importing jeans from the Far East to sell on to retailers in London.

In 1979, Green bought up the entire stock of ten designer label clothes sellers who had gone into receivership for extremely low prices. He then had the newly bought clothes sent to the dry cleaners, got them put on hangers, wrapped them in polythene to make them look new, and then bought a place to sell them to the public.^[3]

Amber Day[link]

In 1988, he became Chairman and Chief Executive of a quoted company called "Amber Day", a discount retailer. The shares performed well, but then suffered a series of profit downgrades and in 1992 he resigned when the company failed to meet its profit forecast.^[4] He has not led a quoted company since, instead working with other entrepreneurs, including Tom Hunter (a sports shoe millionaire and one of the richest men in Scotland) and the Barclay brothers, to help fund his entrepreneurship.^{[citation needed]}

1990s[link]

In the early 1990s Green bought the department store chain Owen Owen which at the time had about 12 branches trading under the Owen Owen and Lewis's brand names. During his ownership, most of these department stores were sold to other operators including Debenhams and Allders or were closed leaving only the Liverpool branch trading as Lewis's. In 2004 this remaining store was sold off.

In 1995 he linked with Tom Hunter to buy sports retailer Olympus as part of a merger. The price was £1, plus the assumption of £30 million in debt. Green and his partners sold the company three years later to JJB Sports for £550 million. Green walked away £73 million richer. That encouraged the Barclay brothers to back him in the £538m acquisition of the Sears retail chain (a different Sears from Sears, Roebuck and Company) in 1999. The subsequent disposal programme (including selling some of the assets, ironically, to Arcadia) raised £729m and confirmed his reputation as a man who could deliver within the retail sector.

BHS, Arcadia, Topshop[link]

Green came to public attention in 1999 when he assisted Tina Green to make a £9-billion hostile bid for Marks and Spencer (M&S). However, the leaking of the bid forced up M&S's share price. The board of M&S were also hostile to the bid and sought to block it. Eventually Green gave up and helped his wife purchase the ailing retail chain British Home Stores for £200 million. His takeover came when everyone else had dismissed the company as a failing brand and unfixable. Green put up £50 million of his own money and borrowed another £150 million to seal the deal. Green completely turned the company around and the chain is now^[when?] thought to be worth over £1.2 billion. Since Green took over, profits have tripled to over £200 million per year.^{[citation needed]}

Next, Green assisted Tina Green in the purchase the Arcadia Group, which owns well-known High Street chains such as Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Selfridge, Outfit, Topshop/Topman and Wallis in 2002. The company was briefly owned by Green but sold to Tina Green^[5] within 24 hours, with Philip acting as CEO.

The Arcadia Group has been profitable, and currently has pre-tax profits of around £380 million per year.

Recently^[when?] he had added the Etam UK chain to the group. Green paid £850 million, and repaid the £808 million he had borrowed to finance the deal in two years, a move that stunned commentators when it was announced.

When The Guardian newspaper investigated a proposed takeover of Safeway in 2003, Green responded to queries about Arcadia's accounts by insulting and swearing at the journalists.^[6]

On 20 October 2005 Green awarded Arcadia shareholders a £1.3-billion dividend.

Other activities[link]

Green is a supporter of the Fashion Retail Academy^[7] and the industry charity Retail Trust.^[8] Green was knighted on 17 June 2006.

In May 2007 after the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in Portugal, Green donated £250,000 as a monetary reward for any useful public information.^[9] He also provided the McCanns with the use of his private jet to allow them to fly to Rome for a Papal visit.^[10] Green intends to increase the reward money to £1 million for the safe return of Madeleine.^{[citation needed]}

He was reportedly the BBC's first choice to front the UK franchise of The Apprentice; however during that period in 2004, he was too busy with Arcadia's attempted takeover of Marks and Spencer.^[11]

Green is a keen aficionado of the word game Scrabble, and claims to have scored 157 across two triple word boxes, although experts have argued that the word he used – "wealthism" – does not feature in any of the standard reference dictionaries.

Personal life[link]

Green is based during the week at a London hotel, spending the weekends with his South African wife and owner of Arcadia Tina Green and their children Chloe and Brandon in an apartment in Monaco.^[12]

Green counts as his friends, David and Simon Reuben, Lord Hanson, Philip Colbert, Tom Hunter, Mohamed Al-Fayed of Harrods, Bill Kenwright, Simon Cowell, Gwyneth Paltrow, Michael Winner and the Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya.^[12]

Among Green's more extravagant items are a 208 ft/£32 million Benetti yacht Lionheart^[13] and a £20 million Gulfstream G550 private jet .^[12] For his birthday, his wife bought him a solid gold Monopoly set, featuring his very own acquisitions.^[14]

Green has been described as "flash". For his son's Bar Mitzvah in 2005, he spent £4 million on a three-day event for over 200 friends and family in the French Riviera. He also hired Andrea Bocelli and Destiny's Child to perform. For his nephew, Matt, he threw a Bar Mitzvah at Madame Tussauds, where Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and One Direction performed. Matt and Chloe shared a birthday party in December 2011, at One Mayfair, where Rihanna sang ,and many personal friends of the family attended. The star-studded bash was featured in The Sun and cost over £1 million.^[15] For his 50th birthday he flew 200 guests in a chartered Airbus A300 to a hotel in Cyprus for a three-day toga party, where they were serenaded by Tom Jones and Rod Stewart, who was reportedly paid £750,000 for a 45-minute set. For his 55th birthday he flew 100 guests 8,500 miles in two private jets from London Stansted Airport. They arrived at the exclusive Maldives resort of Four Seasons: Landaagiraavaru, an eco-spa on a private Indian Ocean island.^[16]

His business hero is the late Sir Charles Clore, who built the Sears Plc UK retail empire from next to nothing in the 1950s and 1960s.^[17]

Green is believed to be a keen caravanner, and has often been reported heading off to the west Country at weekends in his Bentley with a Sprite 15 footer in tow.

Football involvement[link]

Sir Philip Green is a big football fan and a Tottenham Hotspur supporter.^[18] In 1987 he suggested to Irving Scholar, the Spurs Chairman, that Tony Berry be appointed to the board.^[19] In 1991 he helped Terry Venables raise the last £500,000 needed to purchase shares in the club.^[19]

He was also involved in the transfers of Rio Ferdinand from Leeds United and Louis Saha from Fulham to Manchester United.^[19]

He is heavily involved with Everton Football Club due to his friendship with chairman Bill Kenwright, but has no intention of formally investing in the club.^[20] He arranged for another friend, Planet Hollywood's owner Robert Earle to purchase shares from former director Paul Gregg during a struggle for control of Everton in 2004.^[21] He offers business advice to the club alongside Tesco CEO Terry Leahy and helps negotiates player transfer fees with agents.^[22]

Sir Phillip is also involved with Watford due to his friendship with Watford chairman L. Bassini. He is due to help them redevelop Vicarage Road Stadium.

Political views[link]

Two weeks prior to the 2010 general election, Green came out in support of David Cameron, George Osborne and the Conservative Party, stating that "[Cameron and Osborne] understand what needs to be done. They get it."^[23]

Efficiency review on government spending[link]

In August 2010, Green was asked by the recently elected Prime Minister, David Cameron, to carry out a review of government spending and procurement.^[24] Green's summary report, Efficiency Review by Sir Philip Green,^[25] published in October 2010, alleged significant failings in government procurement processes, however it has been generally dismissed by the procurement profession as being ill-researched and of little real worth.

Criticism[link]

This article's Criticism or Controversy section may compromise the article's neutral point of view of the subject. Please integrate the section's contents into the article as a whole, or rewrite the material. (December 2010)

Tax avoidance[link]

Green became the target of activist group UK Uncut in November 2010 for his history of corporate tax avoidance. The group targeted Green specifically as a Government advisor.^[26]

On 4 December 2010 campaigners staged a sit-in at Green's flagship London Oxford Street Topshop store, and in Brighton a few glued themselves to the branch windows, while other high streets in towns and cities across Britain saw similar protests in a day of action against the tax arrangements of rich individuals and big businesses.

Green, the Arcadia retail group tycoon, became the focus of anger over the programme of government cuts that campaigners said could be avoided if tax dodging was stamped out, bringing in some £25bn a year to the public purse and reducing the national deficit.

Taveta Investments, the company used to acquire Arcadia in 2002, is in the name of Green's wife, Tina Green, a Monaco resident, avoiding £285 million in tax that would be payable if a UK resident owned the company.^[27] When Green paid his family £1.2bn in 2005, it was paid for by a loan taken out by Arcadia, cutting Arcadia's corporation tax as interest charges on the loan were offset against profits.^[28]

Excessive pay[link]

Green has fallen under criticism for taking excessive pay, earned through his shareholdings in Arcadia. In 2005, he declared a dividend in Arcadia, in which he had a holding of 92% of the shares. This meant he earned £1.2 billion in a single year. Green defended himself by saying, "So far as I'm concerned we are in the risk business. We risk our reputation and our money when we buy things. We don't have a guarantee on the back we can get a refund when we haven't got it right."^[29]

Worker rights[link]

Arcadia has been criticised for the pay and conditions of both overseas and UK workers by anti-sweatshop groups such as Labour Behind the Label, No Sweat and the student activist network People & Planet.^[30] Sir Philip Green denied Sunday Times allegations in 2007 that his firm used overseas sweatshops where workers in Mauritius were paid pitiful wages.^[31] In 2010, Sir Philip was again accused, this time by Channel 4's Dispatches programme of still using sweatshops – in Britain, where workers were paid less than half the legal minimum wage.^[32]

Involvement in government cuts[link]

On 29 November 2010, following protests against university fee rises and cuts, protesters occupied the flagship Oxford Street branch of Topshop, to highlight Green's involvement in the government spending cuts. They chanted "Philip Green's taxation could pay for education". Similar protests and occupations were set up at several stores owned by Mr. Green, including Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Leicester, York, Bristol, Portsmouth, Southampton, Newcastle and Cambridge. Arcadia shops came under major attacks during the TUC March for the Alternative demonstration on 26 March 2011.^{[citation needed]}

Personal style[link]

Green has been criticised for what some see as an overly aggressive personal style. He has a reputation for colourful language^{[citation needed]} and in 2003 made a string of expletive-laden outbursts to the Guardian's financial editor, Paul Murphy. Mr Green said: "He can't read English. Mind you, he is a fucking Irishman." He later apologised to the Irish, after customers threatened to boycott his stores.^[33]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Forbes.com: World's Richest People 2004 entry
• Forbes.com: World's Richest People 2006 entry
• Vincent, Sally (23 October 2004). "How I did it". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2004/oct/23/highstreetretailers.marksspencer. Retrieved 25 April 2009.  Interview with Green discussing his life.
• Times Online interview with Philip Green, December, 2007 (video)
• Growing Business meets Sir Philip Green
• Rushton, Susie (5 July 2007). "Philip Green: The king of the high street in his most outspoken interview ever". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/philip-green-the-king-of-the-high-street-in-his-most-outspoken-interview-ever-456046.html. Retrieved 25 April 2009. 
• Davidson, Andrew (24 October 2004). "The Andrew Davidson interview: Philip Green". The Sunday Times (London). http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article498102.ece. Retrieved 25 April 2009. 
• The Guardian's portal for article on Green
• Long, Camilla (8 April 2009). "It's the pop of Topshops". The Australian. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25304797-5010800,00.html. Retrieved 25 April 2009. . Interview with Green.
• Stewart Lansley and Andy Forrester, Top Man, How Philip Green Built His Hight Street Empire, Aurum, 2006
• The British (retail) invasion