ROBERT McKay Kay is the quietest success story in Dorset.

He grew up in a Bournemouth council house and left school at 14 without any qualifications.

Today, he has a luxury Canford Cliffs home and a private plane. His property portfolio includes County Gates on the Bournemouth and Poole border and projects in the USA and Spain.

“I jump into the plane to cross the Atlantic,” said Robert, 52, a father of five. “I do these property deals and I feel sometimes: ‘Is this really me’?”

Robert is proud of his achievements but not boastful and keeps a low profile. This is his first ever interview and he needed prodding from his family to take part.

We took him back to his childhood home for the first time in 38 years. He was one of six children sharing two bedrooms in a small council house at Iford.

His dad worked nightshifts at Wellworthy Engineering in Lymington and his mum was a cleaner during the day.

“There was no money,” he said. “I used to go to school in second-hand clothes with someone else’s name on the tags.

“It created a huge desire in me to have money. It wasn’t a particular amount, just enough so that I had the same as the other kids.”

His story shows what you can do that with entrepreneurial spirit, luck and hard work.

His first job of many was buying and selling toys at markets in Boscombe, Wareham and Salisbury. Then came an incident when he was a 17-year-old apprentice at the Hendy Ford garage in Boscombe.

“I went into the office and said: ‘I can run this better than the people who run it now.’ “I could see the waste and I knew I could do more than just turn spanners.

“I was rather surprised when he laughed at me! I was there in my little overalls and he was Mr Hendy of Hendy Ford. But to his credit he took the time to speak to me.

“He agreed to let me go from my indentures and I was out of that door like a flash. The thought I could be doing that work for the rest of my life horrified me.

“It never entered my head that it wasn’t my place to say that. I just felt I could run it.”

Robert drove taxis, cleaned cars, brought and sold vehicles, and then had enough money to invest in the emerging video-rental market.

He started Flicks with a mobile van and demand was so high he built up a chain of shops that were sold to Blockbuster in the mid-1980s.

That business brought him into the property market and he now has four nursing homes.

Fordingbridge Nursing Home is a rural mansion, now converted into a 40-bed home. The others are Binegar Hall Farm in Wareham, New Forest Nursing Home in Fritham, and Magna Nursing Home in Wimborne.

He bought the luxury Tracy Park Golf Club and Country Resort near Bath from the Kuwaiti government in 1992 for £2m.

His office developments include Richmond House, and the new £15m Nova Building at the top of Bournemouth’s Commercial Road.

He has worked with the same people for decades and said: “The fundamental thing for me is that you have to be ethical.

“I like stuff where you can look someone in the eye in a year’s time.

“A lot of guys in business are only thinking about the deal in front of them.

“They are not thinking about tomorrow and whether the customer will come back. I like to be able to deal with people on a repeat basis.”

He also seems to like being in control and tackling problems head-on.

When he flew for the first time, he was so terrified he had a few too many drinks and locked himself in the toilets for the landing.

So he threw himself in at the deep end and learned how to fly.

Robert also talked with excitement about a possible future project – an unusual Bournemouth tourist attraction.

He said: “It’s a bit like being a kid when you are on your way to the park for a football match.

“I still get excited like a little kid – like it’s my very first transaction.”

He added: “I could live anywhere now but I choose to live here. Bournemouth has been good to me. I like the people and I like the pace of life.”