A comprehensive study of Britain's 250 richest people in history, from the time of William the Conqueror to the present. In this book, Philip Beresford, the author of The Sunday Times annual 'Rich List' and history expert William D. Rubinstein, have turned their attention to the wealthiest individuals in British history, revealing how they made their fortunes, the role played by luck, contacts and violence, and how successful they were in hanging on to their gains. People like - William of Warenne, the Earl of Surrey in the 1050s, who if he were alive today would be worth nearly 74bn - over three times richer than Britain's current richest man steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal. - Archbishop Thomas Beckett, who took 250 servants with him on a visit to Paris in 1158, and was worth over 24bn. Not that his fortune was much use when he was murdered in his own cathedral on the orders of Henry II. - Robert Spencer, forebear of Princess Diana, who made a fortune in the wool trade, owned vast trac