Rugby League's Off-Topic thread.

What does Donny Dont do?

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

I bought a cheap Christmas tree from Argos today, because, why not.

I bought Argos in 1998 (well I was part of the team that did the deal) and disposed of it in 2006. My boss in 1998 is now the Chairman of Sainsbury's, who bought Argos a while ago.....

Did you know, not only is Argos based in Milton Keynes, but it's origin was Green Shield Stamps, and it was owned by British American Tobacco, when we could have bought it for a lot less than the £2bn paid in 1998?

Notalotofpeopleknowallofthat

One of these days I'll tell you about my Burberry exploits.

Actually, back to Argos, in around 2000 we bought Hombase to complement Argos and the Home Shopping business' DIY products. Argos and Homebase made up the Home Retail Group when we demerged them in 2006, and Homebase was sold before Argos was taken over by Sainsbury's. Sainsbury's had owned Homebase previously before they sold it to Venture Capitalists who sold it to us for £800m. Think Home Retail Group virtually gave it away.

The Homebase HQ was in Croydon and I paid a visit shortly after we finalised the deal. There was a bit of snow on the ground and absolutely no-one seemed able to cope with it. Back in the 60s and 70s we used to get worse weather than we're seeing at present, with a hell of a lot falling when I lived up in the North York Moors. I remember the older kids used to have to get out of the school bus and push it up the hill when it was a bit slippy. 6 foot snow drifts were a common feature.

Looking at the panic over the past day or so I do wonder how the human race ever got this far!