Martin Lewis: from Simply Money to loads of money Mr Lewis was born in Manchester and grew in Cheshire. After attending the London School of Economics he worked in public relations in the City. He then attended Cardiff University to complete a postgraduate course in journalism. Cardiff is famed for the number of BBC staff it produces, and Mr Lewis followed suit, work as business editor on Radio 4's Today programme. It was after this, in 1999, that he joined Simply Money and then, the Sunday Express. A former colleague at the Express explained that Mr Lewis was not as popular as you might expect given his accessible television persona today, but was a "bit of a geek." "Martin was quite intense, very ambitious and an excellent networker, I am not surprised he has done so well," a former fellow journalist said. It was while he was at the Express in February 2003 he set up MoneySavingExpert - now the most popular consumer finance website in the UK, with 13 million monthly users and seven million people receiving the Martin's Money Tips email - for just £100. While he was still at the Express, in 2007, he was rumoured to have been approached by Lloyds TSB who offered him £5m to buy the site. He turned it down on the basis that he "did not trust banks," and would worry about losing editorial control. Before it was closed down last year, Mr Lewis had a column in the News of the World. He regularly appears on ITV's Daybreak programme, as well as Watchdog and a weekly slot on the Lorraine show. Mr Lewis has a monthly column in The Daily Telegraph. He is a best-selling author, titles include The Money Diet and Three Lessons & Thrifty Ways. Commenting on todays announcement of the sale of his website to Moneysupermarket.com Mr Lewis said that he would be cutting down on the time he spends running the website to concentrate on his media work. The website is being sold for £87m. Mr Lewis owns 100pc of the business and is expected to receive £35m in cash and around 22.1m shares in MoneySupermarket.com. He intends to gift £10m to charity, including £1m which will go to Citizens Advice.