WHEN Michael Marks arrived in the UK from Russia via Poland he was unable to speak a word of English.

Today the company he founded more than a century ago is famous around the world with everything quintessentially British.

Since the first shop opened in Manchester in the late 1900s, Marks & Spencer has become a global force with shops in 30 countries.

Michael Marks was born in Slonim, Russia in 1859. As a young man desperate for work, he emigrated to England and the northern city of Leeds where he'd been told of a firm called Barran that employed Jewish refugees.

In 1884, he met warehouse owner Isaac Dewhurst and started buying goods off him to sell. The venture was a success and he earned enough to get a stall in the new Leeds market selling goods for a penny. Over his stall, a sign said `Don't ask the price. It's a penny'.

With cashier Tom Spencer, he opened a shop in Cheetham Hill Road in 1894 and then built a new warehouse in Derby Street. It became the headquarters of a business which boasted 36 outlets.

In 1903 Marks & Spencer became a limited company and by this time Tom Spencer's é300 investment was worth é15,000 and he decided to retire.

On New Year's Eve 1907, Michael died but the family legacy lived on and in 1916 his son Simon became chairman.

It is no secret the group has had many ups and downs since its humble beginnings. In 2000 they brought in Luc Vandevelde to turn the ailing chain around.

But since the appointment of chief executive Stuart Rose in 2004, the store appears to be enjoying the good times once again.

Who do you think is Greater Manchester's greatest businessman?