Being born during the war of Lancastrian working class parents and subsequently only managing three 'O' level passes was not a promising start for Author Bill Parkinson. He served a mechanical engineering apprenticeship and got a taste for business by running his own printing enterprise as a teenager. After a spell working for glass giant Pilkington he became a branch manager for a firm of lifting gear engineers in Manchester. Following a takeover he was sacked just before Christmas 1969. This turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to him as he was prompted to start his own business hiring out lifting equipment. Despite having no capital to start with, he built this into the biggest company of its kind in the world, employing over 550 staff in the UK, Holland, Germany and the USA. He pioneered the use of computers in business and started or acquired many small businesses in a variety of fields. In 1985 he achieved some notoriety when, after trying a pint of Moorhouses beer in a Preston pub, he went on to buy the brewery, which prompted a short media frenzy in which he was described as 'the man who liked the beer so much, he bought the brewery'. The story of his phenomenal success is fascinating and heart-warming and is sure to be motivational to would-be entrepreneurs the world over. He is married with three children and four grandchildren and is a keen golfer. Despite his busy family and business commitments, he still finds time for regular visits to his local pub (The Pendle Witch in Atherton, which he owns) to play dominoes and pool with his mates.