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Rich list illustrates northern hard graft

Jul 03 2007

A rich list of self-made UK millionaires in the Times shows that many hail from Scotland and the north of England.

The study, put together by Philip Beresford, is topped by John Caudwell, the engineer from Stoke-on-Trent who founded Phones 4U to make a fortune of £1.6 billion.

Jeweller Laurence Graff, vacuum cleaner tycoon Sir James Dyson and telecoms bigwig Sir Terry Matthews were the other billionaires that featured on the list.

Other famous names were Dame Anita Roddick, whose Body Shop chain helped bring her a fortune of £102 million, Gordon Ramsay who has an estimated £50 million, and Sir Alex Ferguson, who is thought to have £20 million.

Many of these successful entrepreneurs took vocational training rather than university degrees, and many were from Scotland.

Mr Beresford comments: 'The apprenticeship is still very heavily rooted in Scotland. They don't have the Eton and Oxbridge syndrome and they don't have the Del boy get-rich-quick mentality.

'It fits in with the Gordon Brown mould of raising yourself by your boot straps through hard work.'

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