Hello, I'm Kirstie Young. Thank you for downloading this podcast of Desert Island Disks from BBC Radio 4.

For rights reasons, the music choices are shorter than in the radio broadcast.

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Radio 4. My My cast away this week is the businessman Sir Terry Leahy. The former CEO of Tesco,

he made his name transforming a lackluster brand into Britain's biggest retailer, valued at 35 billion

and employing around 300,000 staff globally.

Can it really be true that he started stacking shelves there as a school boy?

Well it is, true too that he was brought up in a house devoid of books in a family

that could never afford to take holidays. His assent to the very top then was marked by a fundamental understanding

of his customer's needs and a single-minded determination powered by fear of failure. He says

of himself, I was a relatively shy guy from a council estate and an unlikely chief executive.

I'm quite happy not to be in the limelight.

Too bad Terry Lee, you're in it today.

Is it an uncomfortable place for you to be the limelight?

Yeah this is not where I'm happiest but I'm looking forward to today and the day of your

departure then at Tesco's when it was announced 778 million was wiped off the value of the company.

Was that flattering or was it worrying?

As somebody said, it was enough of a drop to mark the occasion but not so bad that it really caused a problem.

Still giving you pause for thought that?

Yes, well it had been my life so leaving was difficult but I've got very good memories of the business.

It must have been a highly personal feeling to decide to leave and had a huge personal impact I imagine.

It did, although you've got to keep that under control because you're one person of

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