Hans Snook Executive of a wireless paging business (which subsequently became part of the Hutchison Whampoa Group). In 1992 Snook was despatched to the UK and closed Hutchison's Rabbit phone system; and instead turned efforts to developing the UK's fourth mobile phone network. On April 28, 1994 Orange was launched. Within five years Orange had developed an enviable reputation as well as a growing international presence. Mannesmann of Germany purchased Orange Plc, in a failed attempt to challenge Vodafone as the World's leading mobile phone company. This set off a chain of events which resulted in France Télécom taking ownership of Orange,
Peter Parker (British businessman) Peter Parker (British businessman) Sir Peter Parker KBE LVO (30 August 1924 – 28 April 2002) was a British businessman and chairman of the British Railways Board from 1976 to 1983. Parker was born in France on 30 August 1924 but spent part of his childhood in Shanghai where his father worked for an oil company. The family were evacuated from China in 1937, and while his father went to work in Africa, his mother and the rest of the family settled in Bedford, England, where he attended Bedford School. After leaving school, he won a scholarship to study Japanese