TITAN WITH £11bn SALES

John Lewis began in 1864 in Oxford Street, London

Its ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ slogan was first used in an advert in 1925

It has sales of £11bn a year – but 40pc are at Christmas

Its first Christmas advert was in 2007. The 2016 Man On The Moon advert has been watched 26m times on YouTube

It employs 87,000 staff who are called ‘partners’ as they share in the profits

The diagonal green stripes on its bags were created in 1990 and are supposed to reflect the facade of its Leeds store