Simon Murray (businessman)

After rising to the rank of Chief Corporal, he turned down an offer to attend Officers' School in France, and left the Legion in 1965 after completing his service.

On leaving the Foreign Legion in 1965, he got married and moved to Hong Kong where he worked for Jardine Matheson for fourteen years.

Whilst CEO of Hutchison, he founded a mobile phone company and, after turning it into the global brand "Orange", it was sold in 1999 for US$36 billion to Mannesmann.

[5] He has served on boards and held advisory positions with a number of other large companies, including Vodafone, Tommy Hilfiger Corporation, Vivendi Universal, Usinor SA, Hermes, General Electric (US), China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), Macquarie Bank, N.M. Rothschild, and Bain (the consultancy company).

[1] The 1,200 km trek started in early December 2004 at Hercules Inlet on the Zumberge Coast, Antarctica and was completed when they reached the South Pole about two months later.

[1] Appointed CBE in 2013, Murray is also a Commandeur of the Order of Merit of the French Republic and a Chevalier de La Legion d’Honneur.

Also in the 1980s, Murray presented a documentary on the French Foreign Legion, where he explained the traditions and folklore that surround this elite force.

[9] A kinsman of the Dukes of Atholl, Murray married in 1965 his long-time girlfriend, pilot Jennifer (née Mather), with whom he has three children and six grandchildren.