Bill Gates gladly so... I've paid over $6 billion in taxes." He is a proponent of higher taxes, particularly for the rich. Gates' days are planned for him, similar to the US President's schedule, on a minute-by-minute basis. Gates has written two books: In 2013, Gates became a LinkedIn Influencer. Gates was the guest on BBC Radio 4's "Desert Island Discs" on January 31, 2016, in which he talks about his relationships with his father and Steve Jobs, meeting Melinda Ann French, the start of Microsoft and some of his habits (for example reading The Economist "from cover to cover every week").
Bill Gates Sr. to William Henry Gates I or Sr. (1891–1969) and Lillian Elizabeth Rice (1891–1966); the couple had married in 1913. His paternal grandmother was German and his maternal grandmother was English, and he was apparently the "third" William Henry Gates, despite being named the second. Gates was an active member of a Boy Scout troop for several years, and earned the Eagle Scout Award in 1941. After high school he enlisted in the United States Army, changing his name to William Gates Jr. to avoid the appearance of elitism. He fought in World War II and was honorably discharged in November