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When Peter left Wellington Tech aged 15 in 1959, senior master JA Bateman described him as “a reliable and responsible boy” and as such, one who would “possess qualities which should be acceptable to an employer”.

In fact Leitch battled what today would quickly be recognized as dyslexia during his school, and later business life.
His first forays into the working world were as a telegram delivery boy, and later he would move to the Post and Telegraph stores.

But then came a move that would change his life – and introduce phrases like “mate”, “at the end of the day”, “to be fair”, and “we discount the prices but never the quality” into the New Zealand language.

He thought it was time to get a trade so got a job with the Terminus Butchery in Seatown. It was in the days when people visited the local butcher’s shop on a daily basis. He worked in a couple of shops in Wellington before deciding to move to Auckland.

His next move introduced him to management, when he took up a one-man shop in Ellerslie’s Michael Ave.

His break came when he found a shop in Mangere’s Rosella Road.

For the first two years he would work as a cleaner in the morning and then at night and at weekends he would bone meat to make ends meet, as he struggled to make a profit.

They quit the Rosella Road shop and moved to nearby Massey Road – the original Mad Butcher store and is still part of the business.

Leitch began advertising on Radio Pacific, doing phone ads where he would talk to the announcer, fronting his spots as Rosella Meats, home of the Mad Butcher.

Most recently Peter has been made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. This has been credited in part to the enormous contribution he makes to charity.