Jim Ratcliffe named as UK’s richest man and record number of women among 1,000 wealthiest.
Jim Ratcliffe, chief executive of chemicals firm Ineos, saw his worth sky rocket to £21.05 billion, shooting him to the top of the Sunday Times Rich List.
The 65-year-old joiner’s son leapfrogged his way to the top in this year’s rankings due to a revaluation of his assets after coming 18th in last year’s poll.
Ineos’s director Andy Currie and finance director John Reece joined Mr Ratcliffe in the top 20, taking joint 16th place with £7bn each.
According to the Financial Times, Mr Ratcliffe spent the first 10 years of his life in a council house in the northern suburbs of Manchester.
His father was a joiner before then moving on to run a factory that made laboratory furniture.
The family later moved to Failswoth in East Yorkshire and Mr Ratcliffe went to Beverley Grammar School.
Mr Ratcliffe studied chemical engineering at Birmingham University, and got an MBA from London Business School.
He set up Ineos in 1998. It makes and sells raw materials for products ranging from bottle caps, toothpaste to computers and cars.
He is the first UK-born person to top the rich list since the Duke of Westminster in 2003, reports the BBC.
In second place were the Hinduja brothers, Sri and Gopi, worth £20.64 billion.
Their India-based car manufacturer Ashok Leyland and Mumbai-based IndusInd Bank having a particularly successful year.
Arcadia boss Sir Philip Green saw his ranking slide dropping by £787m to £2bn.
While Jamie Oliver fell off the list completely following a rocky year for his restaurant empire.
Robert Watts, who compiled the list, said: “Britain is changing. Gone are the days when old money and a small band of industries dominated the Sunday Times Rich List.
“Aristocrats and inherited wealth has been elbowed out of the list and replaced by an army of self-made entrepreneurs.
“Today’s super rich include people who have set up businesses selling chocolate, sushi, pet food and eggs.
“We’re seeing more people from humble backgrounds, who struggled at school or who didn’t even start their businesses until well into middle age.”
