Music icon Paul McCartney has become the UK’s first billionaire musician, according to the Sunday Times Rich List published Friday, despite the country recording its largest fall in the billionaire count in the guide’s 36-year history.

The 81-year-old’s fortune was boosted by “strong touring, a valuable back catalogue and even a little help from Beyoncé”, who covered the Beatles song “Blackbird”, said the Rich List, considered the definitive guide of the UK’s wealthy.

McCartney, whose net worth was estimated at £1.0 billion ($1.26 billion), has bucked the trend, with the amount of billionaires in the UK falling from a peak of 177 in 2022 to 165 this year.

This is partly due to plans by the government to scrap the “non-dom tax status” from next year, the system whereby people do not pay UK tax on their overseas earnings.

“Non-dom” has been a political issue for many years, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Indian wife Akshata Murty claiming the status, meaning she was not required to pay tax on her shareholding in Infosys, the Bangalore-based IT company co-founded by her father.

However, she said she would pay UK tax on that income after coming under political pressure.

That move has not hit the family’s fortune, with the couple seeing their shares grow in value by £108.8 million to nearly £590 million over the past year, giving the couple a net worth of £615 million, according to the list of 350 individuals and families.

King Charles III’s personal wealth was also estimated to have risen by £10 million to £610 million, thanks to a boost in the net worth of his properties.

Those faring less well include chemicals tycoon Jim Ratcliffe, who bought a stake in Manchester United earlier this year, inventor James Dyson and Virgin entrepreneur Richard Branson, who all saw their multi-billion pound fortunes decrease.

The list is topped by Indian-born investor Gopi Hinduja and his family for a third successive year. The head of the Indian conglomerate Hinduja Group has an estimated fortune of £37 billion. 

This year’s Cannes Film Festival hosts a trio of heartthrobs from the back end of the 20th century, making their comeback on the red carpet: Demi Moore, Kevin Costner and Richard Gere.

From “Ghost” to “Pretty Woman” to “Dances with Wolves”, they are responsible for some of Generation X’s favourite movie moments. AFP looks at what they’ve been up to since.

Demi Moore: ghost girl

On the Croisette, 61-year-old Moore will be making her unexpected return in slasher-horror “The Substance”, competing for the festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or.

It has been a long time since Moore came anywhere near a Cannes red carpet, having appeared mostly in small TV roles and forgettable films since the early 2000s.

In her heyday, Moore was a global star after the weepie “Ghost” co-starring the late Patrick Swayze as a murdered businessman who watches over his grieving ceramicist girlfriend from beyond the grave and famously helps her mould clay in a steamy supernatural scene.

Her baggy, androgynous look in that movie — the dungarees and boyish crop — helped define 1990s style, and she had other era-defining hits with steamy dramas “Indecent Proposal” and “Disclosure”.

An Annie Leibovitz photoshoot — showing off her pregnant belly on the cover of Vanity Fair in 1991 — was a stunning move at the time, since copied by Beyonce, Rihanna and others.

She proved her acting chops in meatier 1990s movies such as blockbuster courtroom drama “A Few Good Men” opposite Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson.

But since the turn of the century, Moore, who has a life-long passion for collecting dolls and bought an entire house to store her 2,000-strong collection, was in the headlines more for her tumultuous love life than her acting.

She formed two Hollywood power couples, first in the 1980s with “Die Hard” star Bruce Willis, father of her three daughters, and then with Ashton Kutcher, the latter union ending acrimoniously in 2013.

Kevin Costner: forever West

The soft-spoken 69-year-old is back in Cannes in his favourite genre, the Western, with the epic “Horizon: An American Saga”.

Fans are hoping his fourth feature as director — which is out of competition at Cannes — will mark a return to form after a series of expensive duds in the 1990s trashed his Oscar-gilded career.

His directorial debut “Dances With Wolves”, despite being a three-hour Western, was a global hit and in 1991 won the double Oscar whammy of best picture and director.

As an actor he captured hearts in smash hits “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” (1991) and as Whitney Houston’s protector in “The Bodyguard” (1992).

Teaming up with big-gun directors also proved a winning formula, from Oliver Stone’s “JFK” (1991) to Clint Eastwood’s “A Perfect World” (1993).

But then a string of ultra-expensive and hubristic flops — especially “Waterworld” (1995) and “The Postman” (1997) made him into something of a laughing stock.

He continued to work in smaller roles, but invested more in music with his nostalgic country band “Kevin Costner & Modern West”. There has been a late resurgence in his 60s, however, thanks to the long-running hit neo-Western series, “Yellowstone”.

Richard Gere: zen charm

Gere was the world’s sexiest man according to People Magazine in 1999, when he was 50. By then he had charmed audiences with his quiet seduction in “An Officer and a Gentleman” (1982) and, of course, “Pretty Woman” opposite Julia Roberts.

He and supermodel Cindy Crawford were also the ultimate It-couple. But progressively he gave up glamour for meditation.

Gere had been a Buddhist since he was 25, and increasingly used his fame to speak out, in particular against China’s control of Tibet.

He developed a close friendship with the Dalai Lama and gave a fiery speech against China at the 1993 Oscars that got him barred from future ceremonies.

It also cost him movie roles in the 2000s as Hollywood sought to tap the vast Chinese market.

For his Cannes comeback, the 74-year-old has reunited with Paul Schrader — who directed him in dark cult favourite “American Gigolo” (1980) — for “Oh, Canada”, playing a Vietnam War draft-evader haunted by his past. 

The India actor is accused of not speaking out against genocide in Gaza.

Alia has seemingly landed on the ‘Blockout 2024’ list for not addressing the mounting criticism on the ongoing crisis in Gaza.

Alia Bhatt is in the headlines after her Met Gala 2024 appearance as she has been receiving hatred for keeping mum on the ongoing crisis in Palestine.

Bollywood actress, Alia Bhatt has been making the headlines for her stunning appearance at the Met Gala 2024.

The actress’ popularity has skyrocketed after her show-stopping appearance on the red carpet, with everyone talking about her surreal look.

However, now, Alia has seemingly landed on the ‘Blockout 2024’ list for not addressing the mounting criticism on the ongoing crisis in Gaza.

Like many other Hollywood celebrities, Alia Bhatt has allegedly been accused of keeping mum about the ongoing crisis in Gaza.
And now, her name has popped up in the ‘Blockout 2024’ movement, which has been going viral on TikTok.

For the unversed, netizens have started this phenomenon on social media, wherein they are ‘blocking’ celebrities who have been indifferent to the plight of the people of Palestine and Israel amidst the ongoing conflict.