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She ditched her formal education at the age of 18, and quickly rose up in the world of advertising and sport, to become one of the few - and therefore also prominent - women in football.
She became a director of a major publishing company, Sport Newspapers Ltd, at the age of 20, and a managing director of Birmingham City Football Club before she hit 30. She made an estimated £82 million ($125 million) by the time she turned 40.
After overcoming a potentially fatal cerebral aneurysm and a police arrest over allegations of corruption in English football, she was awarded a CBE for services to Women in Business and Entrepreneurship.
By the end of last year, she was granted the title Baroness Brady of Knightsbridge.