Brian McBride
From an anonymous office block in Slough, the managing director of Amazon.co.uk runs Britain’s most popular online retailer. Books now account for only a third of sales, with CDs and DVDs providing another third and the rest coming from fast-growing new lines such as sports goods, watches, jewellery and household equipment. An amiable 52-year-old Scot, Brian McBride joined the company in January 2006, bringing with him more than 25 years’ experience in the IT industry, most recently with Lucent, Dell and T-Mobile where he was managing director of the German mobile phone group’s UK arm. A non-executive director of Celtic Football Club, he is on the board of SThree, the recruitment firm, and the British Retail Consortium.

Sir Steve Redgrave
The only British sportsman to have won gold medals in five consecutive Olympic Games, Sir Steve Redgrave – who lives in Marlow – has now retired from competitive rowing but is busy in the world of commerce. His FiveG clothing business has teamed up with the Debenhams Maine New England label to produce a range of men’s clothing made from Fairtrade certified cotton from Mali. He has also created Redgrave Health & Leisure with his wife, a medic and former Olympic rower, to provide treatment and rehabilitation for sports injuries and other health programmes. Now in demand as a motivational speaker for business audiences, his face has also been seen on advertisements for consumer products such as Flora ProActiv, the cholesterol-busting spread, and Admiral insurance policies.