Morgan Lennox’s gift of a doner kebab to the man he knew as “Guru” was handsomely rewarded when it emerged that the labourer was none other than the Glaswegian millionaire Charan Gill.
Lennox befriended Gill at a scrap metal yard in Thetford, Norfolk, where the entrepreneur was living on £10 a day as part of a Channel 4 documentary, The Secret Millionaire.
Gill, who amassed a £16m fortune from Britain’s largest Indian restaurant chain, told the 43-year-old divorcé that he had been forced to leave his family in Glasgow as he looked for work.
Lennox took the Indian-born millionaire under his wing, offering him a radio for his flat and using his last few pounds to treat him to a kebab.
Lennox said it was a natural reaction to help the man he knew as Guru: “He said his wife and children were back in Glasgow. I knew how hard it can be when you are in that situation and I was concerned about him.”
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When Guru revealed himself as an undercover millionaire, Lennox said he was “stunned, shocked and amazed”.
Gill offered Lennox £1,000 for computer and camera equipment to start an online bookstore and £4,000 for a holiday in Florida for himself and his three children, who live with his ex-wife.
The experience, said Lennox, had transformed the way he looked at his life. For years he has been amassing hundreds of second-hand books. With Gill’s help he now intends to start an internet book store to be called Guru’s Sunrise.
Gill, 51, who sold his Harlequin Leisure Group for £8m last year, admits that he first regarded Lennox as “a loser”. However, he was moved by Lennox’s love for his children and his generosity.
“In reality the kebab he bought me cost almost half his spare cash for that week,” said Gill. “He had given me more than I had given him.”
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The Secret Millionaire follows the fortunes of five successful business tycoons as they live on the breadline and hold down a menial job for 10 days. They then choose people they have met along the way who deserve a helping hand to transform their life chances.
Each millionaire dispenses £50,000 of their own money.