Letter: Terence Conran: I left by design

From Sir Terence Conran

Sir: While, on the whole, I can cope with the monstrous slings and arrows that come winging my way at the moment, I would really like to correct that much-regurgitated inaccuracy that was repeated yet again in your columns ("Conran biographer hits back at critics", 24 July): that I was "forced out of Storehouse". The un-newsworthy, factual truth is that I left entirely amicably, with no pressure from anybody, at my own considered pace.

In January 1989, I handed the role of chief executive to Michael Julien. In May 1990, I decided to resign as chairman and appointed my friend Ian Hay Davison, with the full backing of the board. Finally, in 1991, I retired as a non- executive director of Storehouse to get on with the rest of my business life.

Yours faithfully,

Terence Conran

London, SE1

26 July