for Bangor City, and also represented England Universities and England Under 18s at football and scored twice against Scotland. Early business career After walking away from Birmingham University where he was studying to become a dentist in the early '60s, Davies returned to Liverpool and applied to work for the retailers Littlewoods whose head office was based in the city. He also applied to work for Pilkington, the glass manufacturer, but Littlewoods responded first. He started off as a graduate trainee before ending up in stock control and then as a buyer (ankle socks). Davies cites his experience at Littlewoods as being the cornerstone of one of his fundamental beliefs of successful retailing – the importance of effective stock control and the need for understanding local buying patterns – commonly known in retail as Trading. He also credits Littlewoods as offering him "the most fantastic training" environment which was to strongly contribute to his successes in the future. In 2007, he told The Times: "During the Whitsun holidays in Manchester, children dressed up in white and took part in the Whit Walks. Sales of white ankle socks went up by 200 dozen in the area and I had only sent 10. The manager of the store was soon on the phone shouting about what some stupid person had done. I had to drive to the supplier in Leicestershire and deliver the socks myself. It saved my job. Without that I don't think I would be here now. It taught me that in retailing every store is different." First entrepreneurial steps In 1972 Davies launched his first business – Schoolcare, a mail order company specialising in the supply of children's school uniforms. However Schoolcare experienced problems when their bank suffered financial difficulties. Whilst the demise of Schoolcare is no more than a tiny piece in the Davies business jigsaw, it is regarded as the birthplace of another Davies trademark legacy – the "total look concept". In 1973, he was invited to join a fast-growing home-based fashion retailer called Pippa Dee which operated in a similar trading style to Tupperware, counting on a self-employed sales force of over thirteen thousand women to organise house party plan sales across the UK. Davies initially joined as Product and Design Director but very quickly became the driving force behind the sales operation. In a move that was to be reflected in his later business life,