Scottish-born Thomas Lipton, a hard-working, resourceful lad, went to work to help support his family in 1860 when he was only 10. Over the next five years, he was able to put aside around $26, which bought him passage to New York City with $8 to spare. It was not quite enough to get him lodging, so he struck a deal with a landlord. If he rounded up 12 paying lodgers, he could stay for free.

Over the next decade, Lipton worked at various jobs and put aside $500, which he took back to Scotland in 1870.

In May 1871, he opened a shop in Glasgow. It sold the regular array of food items. An idea he had brought back from America- aggressive marketing - helped him edge out his competition. He offered entertainment to children to allow mothers the freedom to shop, installed fun house mirrors, and hired cartoonists to make posters for his windows. He even hired someone to walk a pair of pigs through town to his shop to advertise his bacon.

In 1881, Lipton captured the attention of the public by creating the "largest cheese ever made." Into the cheese he inserted gold coins. The huge cheese sold at a furious pace to people hoping to get one of the lucky gold slices. After all this activity, Lipton decided to take a much-needed vacation in 1890.

En route to Australia, he stopped in Ceylon, where he did some reearch on tea, the product with which his name would become synonymous.

He bought five tea plantations in Ceylon. He then sold the tea in individual packets. At the time, tea was sold in open chests. The packaging paid off. He sold 4 million packets that year.

Today Lipton markets more than half the tea sold in America through grocery and convenience stores.