SUSSEX’S richest man has seen his wealth increase by £650 million in the past 12 months.

Hans Rausing, from Wadhurst, is the 11th richest person in the country with a fortune of £9.25 billion despite the 91-year-old selling off his stake in the Tetra Pak carton operation to his niece and nephew, who are the country’s eighth wealthiest.

They are both among a record number of UK-based billionaires in the 1,000 richest people in the country, who have seen their combined wealth rise by 14 per cent to £658 billion despite fears of Brexit’s economic impact.

Among those celebrating successful years are Sir Andy Murray, married to Barcombe-born Kim Sears, who on top of becoming a father and world number one for the first time and wins at Wimbledon and the Olympics, saw his wealth increase by £20 million to £77 million.

Hastings-born music impresario and Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller saw his £440 million rise by £25 million thanks in part to the sale of his Beverly Hills mansion for $14.6 million.

Among the county’s music stars, Rolling Stone guitarist Keith Richards, who lives in West Wittering, is worth £235 million and fifth richest musician in Britain and Ireland, while Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, with homes in Horsham and Hove, is worth £110 million and level 19th with Phil Collins.

Lord Ashcroft of Chichester is the country’s 95th with a personal fortune of £1.35 billion, up £10 million on last year. Among the landed gentry, Viscount Cowdray, owner of a 16,500-acre estate in Midhurst, is worth £238 million and the Duke of Richmond’s wealth has grown to £210 million on the back of a record £86.7 million turnover for The Goodwood Estate Company.

On the young rich list is Alexander Hamilton, son of Hove-based landlord Nicholas van Hoogstraten, who with his three brothers and sisters has more than 100 directorships to businesses with assets of about £155 million.

Also on the young list is Avengers actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson, worth £18 million, who is married to Hastings artist Sam Taylor-Johnson.

Jim and Fitri Hay, who own the Birch Grove mansion of Harold MacMillan, have a £305 million fortune from oil and horseracing, making them 378 in the rich list.

Horsham estate agent Paul Rooney is worth £140 million, Small Dole property magnate Michael Hunt £175 million, school academy founder Sir Rod Aldridge £135 million and former Albion owner Bill Archer is worth £125 million.

ADELE SAYS HELLO TO MORE £S

Adele has cemented her place among the wealthiest entertainers and richest under 30 in Britain after another stellar year.

The Hello singer now has an estimated personal fortune of £125 million, according to The Sunday Times rich list released yesterday.

Her immense fortune has increased by £40 million over 12 months as her career goes from strength to strength.

Contributing to her rise has been the 122 night sold-out world tour of her third album 27, released in 2015, playing to more than 1.5 million fans and taking £138 million at the box office. It will end at Wembley Stadium in July.

The 29-year-old spent £4 million of her hard-earned riches earlier this year on an 18th century, eight-bedroom mansion in East Grinstead set in 48 acres where she will live with her Brighton husband Simon Konecki, a union confirmed at the Grammys earlier this year, and four-year-old son Angelo.

She will hope that purchase will go better than her previous Sussex homes. She moved out of a £6 million mansion in Partridge Green she rented because it was haunted while her home in Hove’s Millionaires’ Row was little used. However she sold it for £2.85 million last year at a profit of £350,000 after owning it for four years.

WHERE THERE’S MACCA, THERE’S BRASS... AND GOLD AND SILVER AND CASH

He may have once sang All You Need Is Love but Sir Paul McCartney has £780 million to console himself with as well.

The Beatles’ star continues to perform despite his 75th birthday on the horizon next month.

And performing is reaping rich rewards for Macca who received £8 million for just one performance at October’s Desert trip festival in California which also saw the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, the Who and Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters play.

The company which handles his performance income had a turnover of £29 million in 2015/16 lifting his wealth by £20 million, making him around four times wealthier than former bandmate Ringo Starr.

His income has also been swelled by an agreement allowing The Beatles back catalogue to be sold by streaming sites including Spotify.

His third wife Nancy Shevell also brings considerable wealth, £150 million from her father’s freight lorry company, making them the 164th richest people in the country.

Among his properties around the globe, he owns a 1,500-acre farm at Peasmarsh where he spent much of his married life with Linda.

He is lived in Hove’s Western Esplanade during his marriage to Heather Mills.

EXPERIENCED ENTREPRENEUR MAKES ANNUAL A-PIER-RANCE IN RICH LIST

Brighton Palace Pier owner Luke Johnson is among the 500 richest people in the UK.

The former city analyst, who bought the historic seafront attraction for £18 million in 2016, has seen his wealth rise by £5 million to £250 million in the past 12 months.

It is the latest successful year for the investor who rose to prominence in 1983 when he bought the fledgling Pizza Express for £8 million, His latest food success is cake maker Patisserie Valerie whose float in 2014 netted Mr Johnson £46 million. He still retains a £128 million stake in the £364 million company.

The businessman has sold off all his other businesses in the city this year including Lola Lo in East Street for a “nominal amount”.

He surrendered the lease of Dirty Blonde in November.

The profits of the pier-owning company, which has £31 million worth of assets including £22 million in property, were up 783 per cent to £2.65 million compared with £300,000 in 2017 but the company is now focused on reducing operating costs through the “disposal of marginal and unprofitable sites”.

Nicknamed Cool Hand Luke, the entrepreneur has more than 35 years experience in hospitality after running his first club as an 18-year-old student in Oxford.

WORTH MORE THAN MONEY

THE alternative rich list recognises standout figures whose value to society goes beyond mere pounds and profit.

A judging panel, including Lewes-based, award-winning broadcaster Natasha Kaplinsky, have drawn up the annual shortlist of worthy candidates whose lives are considered rich in integrity, wisdom, courage, self-fulfilment and altruism.

They include Horsham-born Virginnia McKenna, pictured, co-founder of international animal rights charity The Born Free Foundation.

Inspired by her role in 1966 film Born Free, the actor and her later partner Bill Travers started focusing on animal documentaries and following the death of an elephant in London zoo in 1984 she founded Zoo Check.

Seven years later, Born Free was created and it has grown into an internationally recognised force for wildlife conservation.

Also recognised is Hastings photographer Giles Duley, whose life was transformed after he stepped on a landmine in Afghanistan in 2011, leaving him a triple amputee.

He has since returned to work after extensive rehab and now uses his considerable photographic skills to highlight the suffering of others.