The media rich list

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Creative art of making (and losing) fortunes reveals who really wants to be a millionaire

1 Sir Peter Michael. £185m.Age 62. The chairman of Classic FM. He trained as an engineer and set up the electronics company Quantel, which he sold in 1988 for £60m. In 1992 he put £2m into the fledgling Classic FM. He owns a winery in California. Last year he said: "I still haven?t made up my mind what I?m going to do when I grow up."

2 Sir Ray Tindle. £173m.Age 74. His group of newspapers is worth about £120m.

3 Anne Wood. £130m.Age 63. Fortune from Roland Rat and the Teletubbies.

4 Mike Luckwell. £120m. Age 59. His Hit Entertainment has Bob The Builder.

5 Paul Smith. £108m.Age 54. The man behind Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

6 Chris Wright. £105m.Age 56. Chrysalis media group mogul, ex-QPR chairman.

7 Michael Green. £90mAge 53. Advertising revenues are falling at his Carlton TV.

8. Noel Edmonds. £70m.Age 52. BBC radio and TV presenter turned hard-headed businessman, with 840-acre Devon estate and £3m helicopter.

9= Rowan Atkinson. £60m. Age 45. Mr Bean made the comedian his fortune.

9= Avtar Lit. £60m.Age 51. His Sunrise Radio is worth around £35m

11 Peter Orton Hit Entertainment. £55m
12 Chris Evans Ginger Media Group. £52m
13 Elisabeth Murdoch Shine Entertainment. £50m
14 Jasper Carrott (pictured) Complete Communications. £48m
15 Phil Redmond Mersey Television. £40m
=16 Jimmy Mulville Hat Trick Productions. £35m
=16 Denise O?Donoghue Hat Trick Productions. £35m
=18 Sir Bob Geldof Castaway & Ten Alps. £30m
=18 Lord Hollick United Business Media. £30m
20 David Green September Films. £25.7m
21 Lord Alli Planet 24, Castaway, Shine. £25.5m
=22 Sir David Frost David Paradine. £25m
=22 Lynda La Plante La Plante Productions. £25m
=22 Charles Parsons Planet 24 & Castaway. £25m
=22 Griff Rhys Jones Talkback Productions. £25m
=22 Mel Smith Talkback Productions. £25m
27 Terry Bate The Television Corporation. £22.5m
28 John McGuckian Ulster Television. £20m
=29 Peter Bennett-Jones Tiger Aspect. £19m
=29 Charles Brand Tiger Aspect. £19m
31 Tom Gutteridge Mentorn Barraclough Carey. £16m
=32 Sir Christopher Bland BBC and ex-LWT. £15m
=32 David Frank RDF Media. £15m
=32 Britt Allcroft Gullane Entertainment. £15m
=32 Iain Lauchlan Tell-Tale Productions. £15m
=32 Will Brenton Tell-Tale Productions. £15m
=32 Greg Dyke (pictured) BBC and ex-LWT. £15m
=32 Mark Chapman Tiger Aspect. £15m
=32 Paul Sommers Tiger Aspect. £15m
=32 Peter Donebauer Diverse. £15m
41 Richard Murray Avesco. £13m
42 Neil Record RDF Media. £12.4m
=43 Rod Bransgrove Entertainment Rights. £12m
=43 Peter Fincham Talkback Productions. £12m
=43 Harry Goodman The TV Travel Shop. £12m
=43 Denis Strauss The TV Travel Shop. £12m
=43 Jasper Smith Static 2358. £12m
=43 Mark Rock Static 2358. £12m
=43 Ian Hogg Picardy Media Group. £12m
=43 Jonathan Thoday Avalon. £12m
=51 Sonita Alleyne Somethin? Else. £10.5m
=51 Jez Nelson Somethin? Else. £10.5m
=51 Jane Hewland Hewland International. £10.5m
=54 Alex Graham Wall to Wall Television. £10m
=54 Helen Cadwallader Tell-Tale Productions. £10m
=54 Karl Woolley Tell-Tale Productions. £10m
=54 Stuart Carter Pioneer Film & Television. £10m
=54 Brian & Anne Lapping Brook Lapping £10m
=54 Stephen Leahy Action Time. £10m
=54 Saunders&Edmondson Rashil. £10m
=54 David Chance Granada and ex-BSkyB. £10m
=54 Angus Wright Gullane Entertainment. £10m
63 Brian Eastman Carnival (Film & Theatre). £9m
=64 Timothy Blackmore UBC Media Group. £8m
=64 Simon Cole UBC Media Group. £8m
=64 Alan Horrox Tetra Films. £8m
=64 Peter Lassman Chrysalis. £8m
=68 Wilfred Shorrocks Just Group. £7.5m
=68 Brian True-May Bentley Productions. £7.5m
70 William Harris Gullane Entertainment. £7m
71 Paul Bennun Somethin? Else. £6.9m
72 Peter Urie Gullane Entertainment. £6.5m
=73 Leslie Halpin RDF Media. £6m
=73 Hilary Lawson Television & Film Production £6m
=73 Kelvin Mackenzie (pictured) The Wireless Group. £6m
=73 Charles Wace Two Four Productions. £6m
=73 Wark & Clements Wark Clements. £6m
=78 Charles Allen Granada. £5m
=78 Arun Bajaj Radio XL. £5m
=78 Andrew Booth World TV. £5m
=78 Peter Sibley World TV. £5m
=78 Neil Buchanan Media Merchants. £5m
=78 Tim Edmunds Media Merchants. £5m
=78 Roger Llewellyn Gullane Entertainment. £5m
=78 Lord Puttnam Enigma Productions. £5m
=78 Paul Shields Little Bird Co. £5m
=78 Gary Smith Winchester Entertainment. £5m
=7b =89 Hilary Goldman Hewland International. £4.5m
=89 Joanne Sawicki Channel Health. £4.5m
=91 Jenny Barraclough Mentorn Barraclough Carey. £4.4m
=91 George Carey Mentorn Barraclough Carey. £4.4m
=93 Richard Bradley Lion Television. £4m
=93 Jeremy Mills Lion Television. £4m
=93 Nick Catliff Lion Television. £4m
=93 Sebastian Scott Princess Productions. £4m
=93 Henrietta Scott Princess Productions. £4m
=93 David Meek Pozzitive Television. £4m
=93 Geoffrey Posner Pozzitive Television. £4m
=93 Lord Bragg LWT. £4m