Talk to just about anyone who has met Charles Wilson and they remark on one thing: he has an extraordinarily high forehead. This is not said in a disparaging way: quite the opposite. One of Wilson’s former colleagues says: “It makes you think he’s got three brains. And when he starts to speak, you think he probably has. His ability to retain information, his attention to detail, is phenomenal. He is one of the brightest people I’ve ever met.”
Wilson, 52, has put that grasp of detail, that ability to process information, to good use. As chief executive of Booker, he has transformed the cash-and-carry wholesaler from a company on the verge of collapse into an operation for which Tesco is now paying nearly £4bn.