In the early days of Microsoft, boss Bill Gates kept close tabs on his employees’ comings and goings by memorizing the license plates on their vehicles.

In an interview with BBC Radio’s “Desert Island Discs,’’ the Microsoft co-founder told host Kirsty Young that he was “fanatical’’ in his early days at the company.

“In my 20s and 30s, I worked a lot,’’ Gates said. “I worked weekends. I didn’t really believe in vacations.’’

When prodded by Young, Gates revealed that he sometimes struggled with being a young boss so devoted to his work. “I had to be a little careful not to try to apply my standards to how hard they worked. I knew everybody’s license plate so I could look out in the parking lot and see when did people come in, when were they leaving. Eventually I had to loosen up as the company got to a reasonable size.’’

Gates also spoke about his childhood, growing up Washington with his parents. “I was a bit disruptive,’’ he said, revealing that he started questioning the rules he was told to abide by. “There was a tiny bit of tension there as I was pushing back. By the time I was 14 I got over that.’’

He also confirmed to Young a story from his high school days, when Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen helped him to program the school’s scheduling software so Gates would be the only boy in a class of all girls. Allen, who had already moved on to college, missed out.

“I was the one who benefited by being able to have the nice girls sit near me. It wasn’t that I could talk to them or anything, but they were there,’’ Gates said. “I was below average on talking to girls.’’

Gates also spoke about the founding of the company that would make him one of the richest men on the planet, saying the conversation he had with his parents about leaving Harvard at 19 years old “went better than you’d think.’’

As the name of the BBC show implies, he also divulged what tunes he would bring if he were hypothetically stranded on a desert island, which included “Under Pressure’’ by David Bowie and Queen, “Blue Skies’’ by Willie Nelson, Ed Sheeran’s “Sing,’’ “How Can Love Survive’’ from The Sound of Music, U2’s “One,’’ and “My Shot’’ from the Hamilton soundtrack.

Gates introduced the Jimi Hendrix song “Are You Experienced’’ to recall his relationship with Allen, saying the Microsoft co-founder would often taunt the younger Gates with the title of the song. “I’m hiring people who are older than me. I can’t even rent a car.’’

He used the Beatles’ “Two of Us’’ to sum up his relationship with Apple founder Steve Jobs. “For some periods we were complete allies, working together. Sometimes he’d be very tough on you, sometimes he’d be very encouraging. He got really great work out of people.’’

Gates admitted that while Jobs was an incredible genius, “I was more of an engineer than he was.’’

He was audibly passionate about his current work with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. “The wealth I had from Microsoft, Melinda and I wanted to give it back in the most impactful way.’’

“The big thing for us, is getting rid of the diseases that kill children under 5. And over the last 25 years, we’ve gone from having 12 million children a year die to now less than 6 million. We’d like to cut that in half again in the next 15 years.’’

Rob DeCola can be reached at robert.decola@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @robdecola.