Leicester’s richest citizens announced

A list of the wealthiest Leicesterians, yeah that’s actually what people from Leicester are called, features some pretty unknown people like Peter de Haan who inherited his wealth from his parent’s company, Saga Ltd. selling old people insurance. Aside from these relatively unknown people there are some big names (quite literally in some cases).

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha

Topping the list of Leicestershire’s wealthiest people, and winning the award for what is probably one of the longest names ever recorded, is the owner and chairman of Leicester City Football Club.

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha

Vichai is worth a whopping £1 billion thanks to ‘King Power’, the duty-free retail business based in Thailand that owns Leicester City. The 55 year old bought City nearly three years ago and has since invested roughly 100 million in the club, including 17 million to purchase the stadium. During the 2011-2012 season City reportedly made a record 30 million loss, almost double their previous record deficit. Whoops. Looks like Vichai can afford it though…

The Adderley Family

The Adderley family occupy second and third place on the list, with son William pipping parents Bill and Jean to the second spot. (We’re sure that’s a contentious subject at evening meals!). They each have a wealth of over £600 million.

Dunelm…quite literally rags to riches.

This is the family behind ‘Dunelm Group plc’, a major home furnishings retailer that is a living embodiment of the term ‘rags to riches’. Originally a Leicester-based market stall selling curtains, the business is now listed on the London stock exchange with a market capitalisation of £1.8 billion.

Sir Richard George

Dicky George comes in at number 13 on the list with a wealth of roughly 127 million. Who is Richard George you ask? Only the grandson of the guy who invented Weetabix! Obviously. Born in 1944, George became Chief Executive of Weetabix in 1982; he later sold the Northamptonshire based company for 642 million to a US venture capitalist group. This might not have been a smart move for George seeing as a recent buyout by the Chinese company ‘Bright Food’ valued Weetabix at a tasty 1.2 billion.

Fuel for big days…

Engelbert Humperdinck

In at number nineteen with a wealth of 93 million is Leicester’s own adult contemporary singer Engelbert Humperdinck, whose hits include “The last Waltz”, “After The Lovin” and, who can forget the classic, “Lesbian Seagull”.

Some may remember him for his 2012 Eurovision performance in which he placed a triumphant 25th, only beating Norway. Humperdinck’s performance of the single “Love Will Set You Free” consequentially soared to 76 in the singles charts.

Engelbert doing his thang

Emile Heskey

48th on the list is Leicester born footballer Emile Heskey, with a wealth of 15.5 million, probably due to his investments in the British film industry. Heskey is somehow eleven places above Gary Lineker, who has an estimated wealth of between 3 to 18 million.

Lineker also has strong roots to Leicester – it being his hometown as well as originally playing for Leicester City and ultimately becoming Honorary Vice-President of the club. As a BBC presenter, his pay was recently reduced by 25%, reducing his salary by £500,000 to £1.5 million. Even Gary’s feeling the pinch.

Other familiar faces are: Actor Stephen Graham, who came in at ninety three with a wealth of 3 million, followed by Leicester lads Tom Meighan and Sergio Pizzorno from Kasabian, who make up number ninety four and ninety five on the list, each with a wealth of 2.5 million. Both are diehard Leicester City fans and can occasionally be spotted around the Queens road area.

So whenever you’re feeling fed up of impoverished student life, just think that if all it takes to become a millionaire is to play football as well as Emile Heskey, then maybe there’s hope for us all!