Franklin Clarence Mars, the founder of the chocolate empire, was restricted by what he could do as a young boy in Newport, Minnesota, because he had polio.

As a result, he spent a lot of time in the kitchen helping his mother, who loved making sweets.

In 1902, at the age of 19, he started his own sweets firm, selling them wholesale to stores. But it was not until 1923, three years after moving to Minneapolis, that he hit upon a winning formula: the Milky Way.

Frank’s second wife, Ethel, took over the running of the Mars company after his death from a kidney disease in 1934, aged 51.

Forrest, his hot-tempered but brilliant son, left the company in 1932 after trying to persuade his father to sell Milky Way bars in Canada. Frank would not allow it.

Forrest set up his own firm and invented M&Ms, before returning to Mars to take control of the company in 1964. He retired in 1973, aged 69, and let his sons, Forrest Jr and John, take over. He frequently criticised his sons’ performance until he died, age 95, in 1999.

Mars is still a family-owned firm, but is run by Paul Michaels, the company’s global president.

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