1981: Life of the EXTREMELY WEALTHY | Man Alive | Classic BBC Documentary | BBC Archive

Cigars at £120 a time. £2,000 a year on hairdos. Gold-plated baths costing £5,000 each. Handkerchiefs at £10 a blow. A yacht at a quarter of a million pounds. Who is buying them? And, more intriguingly, how?

Despite the worst recession since the 1930s, there still seems to be plenty of money about - in some pockets. Is it that a lucky few are simply born with a rare get-rich gene? Or is it that they have got themselves the advice of extra-sharp accountants? Can anyone get rich?

Man Alive looks at the lifestyle of some big spenders. And asks how they do it. Could it be that there are really two tax systems in Great Britain and that some people are always going to have it easier than others?

Following the programme, Jeremy James speaks to chartered accountant Philip Hardman about the ways that wealthy people can use the British tax system to their advantage. Jeremy James then hosts a studio discussion with author and former Conservative MP Jeffrey Archer and Labour MP Frank Fields about the growing financial inequality in Britain. What can be done about it? Indeed, should anything be done about it?

Presenter: Jeremy James
Reporter: Peter Bazalgette
Producer: Judi Conner
Editor: Tim Slessor


Clip taken from Man Alive: There's Still a Lot of It About, originally broadcast on BBC Two, 5 March, 1981.





00:00 Introduction
01:37 Peter Bazalgette at the Earls Court Boat show
04:16 Godfrey Bonsack on luxury baths
06:20 Luxury designer clothes
09:03 Dunhill cigars
10:25 Millionaire Rupert Deen on the life of the idle rich
13:47 Horse breeding
16:47 Luxury properties in the North West of England
18:42 Wilmslow boutique shopping
19:23 Peter North and his Porsche
21:38 Peter Stringfellow profile
23:25 Peter Stringfellow interview
27:00 The Millionaire nightclub, Manchester
28:57 Millionaire Nightclub vox pops
31:57 Philip Hardman on UK tax relief for businesses
36:32 Jeffrey Archer and Frank Fields debate wealth
48:29 Credits




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