Sir Christopher Evans: How I turned a love of science into £150m

Sir Christopher Evans started his biotech company 22 years ago developing enzymes in a rented prefab hut. Now he is worth £150m.

Sir Christopher Evans, 52, sounds like a parent's worst nightmare. At seven, he was feeding Lucozade to tadpoles in tin-foil covered tubes. By the age of ten, he was experimenting with explosives. But far from curbing his scientific tendencies, the biotech entrepreneur's parents encouraged him. "I can still remember the night my father came home drunk on Mackeson's with scoopfuls of sodium chloride he'd taken from work, which I used to make those explosives," he says. "Science was my thing and fortunately, my parents recognised it."

The son of a steel worker, Evans grew up in Port Talbot, south Wales, where he attended St Christopher's College along with the rest of the "rough and tumble kids" on his council estate. After studying microbiology at Imperial College London, he gained a PhD in biochemistry at Hull University, then headed to the US to work in academia and the pharmaceutical sector.

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Jody Clarke

Jody studied at the University of Limerick and was a senior writer for MoneyWeek. Jody is experienced in interviewing, for example digging into the lives of an ex-M15 agent and quirky business owners who have made millions. Jody’s other areas of expertise include advice on funds, stocks and house prices.