The King of Sunlight: How William Lever Cleaned Up the World

Synopsis

One of the most extraordinary men ever to leave his mark on Britain was William Hesketh Lever - soap-boiler, social reformer, MP, tribal chieftain, multi millionaire and Lord of the Western Isles. He held beliefs far ahead of their times - the welfare state, votes for women, workers' rights - but he also believed the world's problems could be solved by moving populations from country to country, that ballroom dancing could save the soul and the only healthy way to sleep was outdoors in the wind and the rain. In this hilarious and touching journey Adam Macqueen traces Lever's footsteps from his humble Bolton boyhood to a business empire that straddled the world, shining a spotlight on a world long gone and asks: Where does philanthropy stop and social engineering begin? Is it right for an employer to dictate how his workers spend their weekends? And why would a multi millionaire with half a dozen homes and property on four continents choose to sleep on the roof...?