Home-grown billionaire’s backing of Children In Need is his latest generous act

The man who made his fortune after starting out selling trainers from the back of a van is said to have coined the phrase "venture philanthropy" – used to describe how his investment could help to lever in further cash to help good causes.

And he has a long history of supporting good causes, with the Hunter Foundation, which he established in 1998 having so far donated in excess of £55 million – with the ambition of investing a "good deal more".

Children In Need is among the organisations supported – with the charitable foundation having pledged it will match the cash – up to £3 million – raised by Paddy McGuinness during his five-day, charity ride on a Raleigh Chopper bike, which will take the TV personality and BBC Radio 2 presenter from Wales to Scotland.

This builds on previous support for Children In Need, the annual fundraiser staged by the BBC to raise money to help vulnerable youngsters at home and overseas – but the Hunter Foundation has also given money to help a range of other causes.

His efforts were recognised when, in 2005, he was "very chuffed" to be knighted for services to entrepreneurship and philanthropy.

That was followed by him being awarded the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2013 – with the award given to those who have a "sustainable track record of giving" and who have "made a significant impact".

Despite voting Labour in the 2024 general election, it was Sir Tom who paid for a private jet to fly home the body of former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond, after he died suddenly from a heart attack while at a conference in North Macedonia in October.

At the time he explained he had stepped in to act because Mr Salmond had "devoted his life to Scotland and the Scottish people and as such he, and importantly his family, deserved the dignity and privacy of a private return to the home of his birth".

Not shy of making his views on politics known, he has in the past urged the Scottish Government to cut taxes and claimed in 2019 that the UK's politicians had "let us all down" in the Brexit process.

The 63-year-old's success comes after he went into business, using money borrowed from his family and a bank loan to start selling trainers from the back of a van.

He opened his first Sports Division shop in Paisley, Renfrewshire, in 1984, and over the next decade and a half grew the business into a chain of more than 250 stores with about 7,500 employees.

In 1998 he sold the business to JJB Sports for £290 million, netting him his first fortune – setting up the Hunter Foundation with his wife Marion that same year.

In 2007, Sir Tom was included in the Sunday Times Rich List as the first ever, home-grown billionaire in Scotland, with an estimated wealth of £1.05 billion – however, the global financial crisis that began later that year is said to have brought his fortune down below the £1 billion mark.