born in 1927, gill attended brasenose college, oxford. he work at unilever for five years before spending another five at british international paper ltd. in 1960, he then founded border tv and was its managing director; in 1964, he moved to the associated television corporation to be its managing director, serving until 1969. in the mean time, he was chairman of itca (1966–67) and then itn (1968–69). between 1970 and 1993, he was chairman of the 1970 trust ltd. he founded the trust with £500,000 capital as a "small free enterprise industrial reorganisation corporation", according to "the banker"; "the times" reported that "it is intended to build up investments in selected companies in service fields rather than in manufacturing". gill was also chairman of ansvar insurance from 1975 to 1998. he was involved with several private equity funds and has held directorships in a range of companies.