William “Bill” Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955 in Seattle) is an American computer scientist, entrepreneur, philanthropist and co-founder, chief software architect and former CEO of Microsoft Corporation. During his career at Microsoft, he held the positions of CEO and chief software architect and remains the company's largest individual shareholder, owning over 9 percent of the common stock. ¹⁾

Bill Gates loves cleaning his own dinner dishes and does so most evenings. Some people volunteer, however,“Other people volunteer but I like the way I do it.²⁾

Gates was infamous for f-bomb-filled rants in meetings and emails during his days at Microsoft. They weren't aimed at people. ³⁾

Bill Gates used to pick up porches that he flew like a maniac. During his young days at Microsoft, Gates received so many speeding tickets that he was forced to recruit a traffic attorney. ⁴⁾

The main cause of his fortune is no longer Microsoft. For years, Gates has been selling off stock, investing in other firms and using all of it to support his charity work. His hidden investment arm is his company manager, Michael Larson.⁵⁾

Gates wrote his first programming program on a General Electric computer as a young teenager at Lakeside Prep School. That was a tic-tac-toe variant, where you could play against a machine. ⁶⁾

In New Mexico, Gates was imprisoned once, in 1977. Without a driver's license, he was driving and he ran a red light. ⁷⁾

Now, he has a plane of his own. He names it his “big splurge.” ⁸⁾

In addition to his aircraft, one of Gates' greatest splurges was the Codex Leicester, a series of writings by Leonardo da Vinci. He purchased the codex at a 1994 auction for $30.8 million. ⁹⁾

Gates claims his kids are only going to inherit $10 million each, considering his vast fortune. It's just a slice of his net worth of $81.1 billion. “Leaving kids massive amounts of money is not a favor to them,” he says. ¹⁰⁾

You'd imagine Bill Gates will look green as one of the richest individuals in the world. But he can't, in truth. The billionaire announced in a 2006 interview that he is color-blind. ¹¹⁾

The timetable for Gates is scheduled down to the minute, but he somehow makes time to read 50 books each year somewhere. That’s almost a book per week. ¹²⁾

A variety of programming languages have been learned by Gates, but he only speaks one human language: English. Despite having a hand in charitable endeavors across the globe, Gates has said that not learning to speak any languages other than his native English is one of his biggest regrets. ¹³⁾

In 2008, Gates starred alongside comedian Jerry Seinfeld in a series of Microsoft commercials. The ad featured the pair shopping at a discount shoe store, and when Gates holds up a membership pass, audiences will glimpse the 1977 mugshot from his speeding violation instead of the card's ID photo. ¹⁴⁾

Gates may be a machine magician, but that doesn't mean he lacks enthusiasm for art. He's known to be a music enthusiast, and has said Weezer is his favorite American rock band. U2 and the fictitious punk group Spinal Tap are among his other favourites. ¹⁵⁾