Britain's Wealthiest Get Richer... And Richer - Sky News

5:34am UK, Sunday May 08, 2011

Ashish Joshi, Sky News correspondent

Britain's super-rich have bucked the economic downturn and increased their collective wealth by 18% in the past year.

Lakshmi Mittal may have lost a fortune but he's still worth the most

The 1,000 best-off people in the country are now worth £395.8bn, according to the 2011 Sunday Times Rich List.

The number of billionaires in the UK now stands at 73 - up from 53 last year and almost matching the record of 75 reached before the recession when the collective wealth of the top 1,000 was £413bn.

Among the new billionaire entries are Douglas and Dame Mary Perkins, aged 68 and 67, the founders of Specsavers, and their family, who are worth £1.15bn.

The 42% increase in their wealth from last year, when the couple's fortune stood at £810m, makes Dame Mary Britain's first self-made woman billionaire.

There are now 108 women among the 1,000 richest - the first time the proportion has surpassed 10%.

He may look sad but Roman Abramovich has plenty to smile about

Tory peer Lord Kirkham, 66, is another new billionaire, with his family, after selling sofa business DFS to private equity group Advent International.

Their wealth stands at £1bn, up from £430m last year.

Another of the 40 British-born billionaires in this year's list is Charles Dunstone, 46, the chairman of Carphone Warehouse and Talk Talk. His fortune has risen by £396m to £1bn in a year after the two firms' were split.

The Duke of Westminster has added £250m to his fortune but falls out of the Rich List top three for the first time since 1999.

Pop star Adele is a big hit whichever way you look at it

The list is still headed by steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, although he has lost almost £5bn in the past year and is now worth a mere £17.5bn.

Another steel magnate, Alisher Usmanov, has climbed six places into second spot after increasing his fortune to £12.4bn.

Chelsea football club owner and fellow Russian Roman Abramovich is number three on the list with a personal fortune of £10.3bn.

With a fortune of £13m Katherine Jenkins won't be singing for her supper

Music stars Adele, Taio Cruz and Florence Welsh are three new entries on the Top young music millionaires list.

Adele is estimated to be worth £6m, Cruz and Welsh around £5m.

The index is topped again by Welsh soprano Katherine Jenkins, who has an estimated personal fortune of .£13m.