The Sunday Times has revealed its Rich List for 2022. The paper publishes an annual magazine featuring the 250 wealthiest people in the country.
This year, eight Yorkshire-based millionaires and billionaires made the list, including one whose age is in triple figures. Tony Murray is a French-born British billionaire businessman with a total worth of £2.53bn.
Tony Murray also stands out for another reason, he's 102 years old. This makes him the oldest person in the rich list.
He comes one below Mike Ashley, North East based founder of Sports Direct and owner of the Frasier Group. Ashley has a net worth of £2.995bn.
Mr Murray, began his race to the top in 1982 when he bought Nu-Swift, a Leeds-based manufacturer of fire extinguishers. Following on from this, he and his family now own Andrew-Sykes Group which is a heating and air conditioning equipment hire company.
It didn't stop there either, Murray and his family went on to purchase another Leeds business called London Security, a fire protection company that also includes his original brand, Nu-Swift.
Born Jacques Gaston Murray in Paris in 1920, he followed in his father's footsteps who was also a businessman. His father ran a construction company that built infrastructure projects such as bridges.
Just before the outbreak of World War Two, Murray was accepted to study architecture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in the city. He luckily escaped Paris at the time of the German invasion and managed to board a Polish ship that took him to England.
He spent a number of years in the RAF, flying 38 missions as a navigator. This gained him British citizenship following the end of the war.
When Murray bought Nu-Swift in 1982, the business was in difficulty. It was owned by Conservative Party member Michael Ashcroft who it is said irritated Murray when he claimed too much credit for turning the company around.
In February 2020, he turned 100 and his wealth has not stopped growing. In the 2022 list, Murray's wealth increased over the year by £230m.
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