Fiona Macdonald

J. Paul Getty became the world's richest man after building a vast oil fortune, helped by the business established by his father and by an early petroleum discovery in Oklahoma. Despite his immense wealth, he was famously frugal, using coin-operated telephones at his English estate and avoiding small surcharges, while surrounding himself with luxury, art and elaborate security. Getty fortified Sutton Place, kept guard dogs, employed bodyguards and owned a pet lion, reflecting his concerns about threats and kidnapping. His grandson John Paul Getty III was kidnapped in Italy in 1973, and Getty initially refused to pay the demanded ransom. Interviews from the 1960s depict Getty as reserved, burdened by financial responsibility and uncertain about the precise qualities behind his success; he ultimately said that some of life's best experiences, such as surfing and enjoying the sun, cost nothing.

A Soviet nuclear submarine that sank in 1989 continues to pose environmental risks as its deteriorating reactor intermittently releases radioactive material into the Norwegian Sea. Although past sealing operations contained torpedo warheads, Norwegian investigators report new leakage from the reactor, with corrosion and changing sea conditions potentially increasing hazards. Experts warn that long-term risks remain due to plutonium’s extended half-life, urging renewed assessment despite the depth making mitigation difficult.

J Paul Getty’s rise to becoming the world’s richest man is traced through his early oil fortune, inherited business responsibilities, and famously frugal lifestyle. A 1963 BBC interview offers insight into his reclusive habits, fortified Surrey estate, vast art collection, and ambivalence toward wealth. Family tensions, including the kidnapping of his grandson, highlight the burdens that accompanied his fortune, while Getty reflects on the pressures of responsibility and finds contentment in simple, inexpensive pleasures.

John le Carré’s difficult childhood shaped by his father Ronnie Cornwell’s frauds and absences informed the themes of deception, insecurity and dual identities in his novels. His experiences at boarding school, early exposure to fabricating stories, and later work in MI5 and MI6 contributed to his realistic portrayal of espionage, contrasting sharply with the glamour of James Bond. Le Carré’s complex love‑hate relationship with his father influenced his characters’ moral conflict, loneliness and distrust, elements he considered central to his writing and creative development.