THEO PAPHITIS

Background•Born on September 24th 1959•Has five children and married to Debbie Paphitis•He was born in Limassol, Cyprus and moved to England when he was nine•Attended Ambler primary school in Islington, and Woodberry Down comprehensive school.•Ran a tuck shop in school at the age of 15

What Theo’s done...•Theo started off as a tea boy at a City of London insurance broker. He wished for more money, and found a passion for sales working as a sales assistant for Watches of Switzerland in Bond Street.•Theo sold mortgages for Legal & General at age 21. This taught him the skill of balances sheets and how to interpret them.•When Theo was 23 he started up a property finance company as a partnership which made him extremely wealthy and successful.•Theo bought into NAG Telecom when realising and observing the rise in phone technology.•When Ryman’s stores became bankrupt, Theo bought the company and restored it dramatically and successfully.

Theo in recent years.•Theo co-owns ‘Red Letter Days’ with Peter Jones.•In 2011 he set up a new lingerie chain; ‘Boux Avenue’•Theo has made many TV entries, such as being a dragon on the programme ‘Dragons Den’. He was approached to join the programme in 2005, and left the programme in 2012. He also had a three part TV series on BBC2 called ‘Theo’s Adventure Capitalists’. He also presented the series called ‘Britain's next big thing.’