Everybody knows that Mick Jagger — soon to celebrate his 80th birthday — is canny with money. He dropped out of a degree in finance and accounting at the London School of Economics to join the Rolling Stones and famously took the band into tax exile in the 1970s. He’s now said to be personally worth around £350 million.
And his reputation for prudence is further strengthened by new accounts for the group, published in the Netherlands. I can reveal that these suggest that the Stones paid £59,500 in tax . . . on income of £26 million.
Promogroup, a holding company for the band based in Amsterdam, was set up by the group in 1972 and has been used by them ever since. According to its latest annual report, assets were £49.6 million but these were balanced against liabilities of £54.3 million. Receivables total £26 million and they have an operating result of a modest £266,000 leaving them with a tax bill of just £59,500.
There is no suggestion that the Stones are paying anything other than the required tax due by law.
The band have long been known for seeking ways to minimise their tax liability, first going into tax exile in 1971 when they discovered that they owed HMRC £250,000. The band’s late financial adviser, Prince Rupert Loewenstein, set up a series of Dutch corporations and trusts that helped them pay minimal tax.
ALISON BOSHOFF: Everybody knows that Mick Jagger — soon to celebrate his 80th birthday — is canny with money (pictured in August 2022)
In an interview, Mick said: ‘No one likes to pay more for things than they are worth. My early childhood memories are of rationing so I am frugal, and I do look down on people who waste things. I always turn the lights out. None of my American friends turn anything off. TVs run all night.’
He denied charges, some laid by former partner Jerry Hall, that he was ‘tight’ with money. He said: ‘I’m not at all stingy. I don’t know what that reputation is all about.’ Sir Mick splits his time between homes in Chelsea, the Caribbean, France and America, with girlfriend Melanie Hamrick, a former ballet dancer who now writes novels. He is understood to be a non-dom in the UK.
Keith Richards lives in Connecticut and has property in the Turks and Caicos Islands. He is said to be worth £295 million. In an interview with The New Yorker, Richards said: ‘The whole business thing is predicated a lot on the tax laws.’ In his 2010 book, Life, he said: ‘Mick would come and visit me in Switzerland and talk about “economic restructuring”.
We’re sitting around half the time talking about tax lawyers! The intricacies of Dutch tax law vis-à-vis the English tax law and the French tax law. All of these tax thieves were snapping at our heels.’
In 2006 it was reported by the German paper Die Welt that the Stones had paid just £3.9 million in tax over the previous 20-odd years on earnings of £242 million. The accounts filed last year showed assets of £53 million with another £36 million in owed income. Profit was just £1.3 million, resulting in a tax bill of £325,000.
Gordon Ramsay never stops telling interviewers that he would love to do Strictly Come Dancing like his daughter Tilly — ‘in a f***ing heartbeat’ was how he described it to the Radio Times.
However, despite nearly two years going on about it, he’s not going to be showing off his moves any time soon, as he will be working on American Kitchen Nightmares when Strictly is filmed this autumn.
Gordon Ramsay never stops telling interviewers that he would love to do Strictly Come Dancing
Ready for the naked truth?
The team behind the controversial Channel 4 show Naked Education — which drew more than 1,200 complaints to Ofcom after showing strangers getting naked in front of teenagers — say that they would be keen to do it all again.
Presenter and former Love Island contestant Dr Alex George said on his podcast Stompcast: ‘I’d absolutely do a series two. What we did was fantastic. I think it’s been really helpful.
‘I think ask this question in ten, 15 years time, would there be a negative reaction? I think society will have moved on so much by that point. People who are angry will go and be angry about something else.’
His co-presenter Anna Richardson (pictured with him) was not quite so sure. She said: ‘I could equally throw that question back out there and say I did this 15 years ago and it was far more acceptable then than it has been now. So I dread to think in 15 years time if we did it again.’
Her long-running Channel 4 dating show Naked Attraction will return for an eighth series in 2024.
The team behind the controversial Channel 4 show Naked Education say that they would be keen to do it all again. Pictured: Yinka, Anna and Dr Alex
They say you should never meet your heroes — and perhaps you should also never remake their films.
Actress Rachel Weisz has spent months talking about how much she loves director David Cronenberg and how much she adored his 1988 film Dead Ringers — remade for telly with her playing the murderous Mantle twins.
She sent him the show — but hasn’t heard back. ‘I think he is making a movie,’ she says. ‘I would love to know what he thought.’
Sydney keen to step into Jane’s Barbarella boots
Sydney Sweeney — who starred in Euphoria and series one of The White Lotus — is getting ready to step into Barbarella’s silver go-go boots.
Sydney, 25, (left) is a fan of the 1968 kitsch classic film which starred Jane Fonda as the 41st century space traveller.
She said: ‘I was like: ‘This is incredible, insane and just iconic… this would be really interesting to be made in today’s world.’
Studio Sony is seeking a script and writer for the new version —and will have to wait until the current writers’ strike in Hollywood is resolved.
Sydney, 25, (left) is a fan of the 1968 kitsch classic film which starred Jane Fonda as the 41st century space traveller
At this point the idea is that the remake may happen after series three of Euphoria is filmed this year and after Sweeney shoots the anticipated Apple production Echo Valley, opposite Oscar winner Julianne Moore. That film has been written by Brad Ingelsby, of Mare of Easttown fame.
La Fonda has already stated her opposition to the project, first mooted earlier this year, saying: ‘I worry about what it’s going to be.’ Sweeney, though, hopes to talk to the actress, ‘if she wants to be involved’.
Fonda herself was dissatisfied with the final film which she felt had flubbed its feminist message due to the all-male writing and directing team, including her then-husband Roger Vadim.
Kylie Minogue is enjoying viral and global success with her hypnotic dance banger Padam Padam.
However, despite an appearance on primetime TV on America’s Got Talent she still seems no closer to ‘cracking’ the country. After three weeks it isn’t in the Billboard Hot 100.
Her last chart entry in the U.S. was almost 20 years ago (Slow — back in 2004) and her only big hit remains The Loco-Motion, which reached No 3 back in 1988.
Disney’s animation’s chief creative officer Jennifer Lee — the genius behind Frozen — was in London this week to screen the forthcoming animated feature film Wish, which will be the big event to mark the studio’s 100 year anniversary.
A select few got to see 20 minutes of stunning footage, which combines watercolour style animation with modern CG. Chris Pine and Ariana DeBose star, and there are numerous nods to Disney’s classics such as Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. Every scene is stolen by Valentino, a goat in pyjamas, voiced by Alan Tudyk. Said Lee: ‘Nobody wears pyjamas like a goat.’
- Dug, the pooch who won everyone’s hearts in Up, is back. He’s in a short film, Carl’s Date, offering his master advice on how to overcome his pre-date worries. The short will show in cinemas before Disney and Pixar’s new movie Elemental, which opens on July 7.
Dug, the pooch who won everyone’s hearts in Up, is back. He’s in a short film, Carl’s Date
Phoebe’s destined for a classic Raiders role
Phoebe Waller-Bridge is an important part of what Harrison Ford calls his ‘splendid goodbye’ to the character of Indiana Jones in forthcoming film Indiana Jones And The Dial of Destiny.
Phoebe says she was inspired by the actress Barbara Stanwyck in her performance as Indy’s goddaughter Helena, after director James Mangold said he wrote the character with the actress in mind.
‘It was a blessing and a curse to hear that, but she’s also an idol of mine. She has such a light touch. There’s something so fresh and charming about her in Lady Eve [the classic 1941 screwball comedy] even though she’s morally questionable.’
Phoebe was also inspired by Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), from 1981’s Raiders Of The Lost Ark and The Crystal Skull: ‘What an incredible character and just so much fun, just tough as hell. She also felt very real and I loved that about her.’ The film is out on June 28.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge is an important part of what Harrison Ford calls his ‘splendid goodbye’ to the character of Indiana Jones
Kanye’s $57m mansion stands empty
Kanye West’s beachside mansion in Malibu is rotting away. Eccentric West, cast into disgrace and dropped by Adidas after antisemitic remarks in 2022, is apparently living mostly in five star hotels in Hollywood with ‘wife’ Bianca Censori, despite a large property portfolio.
The Malibu house was bought for $57 million in 2021 and stripped ready for a total revamp. But after he was dropped those plans apparently changed and it is now an empty shell. Another home in LA, in Hidden Hills near to ex-wife Kim Kardashian, was recently sold for $4.25 million, representing a $250,000 loss.
It was also bought in 2021 but again, he never moved in. One of the most successful songwriters and singers of all time he also has two huge ranches in Wyoming and at least one of them is also apparently abandoned.
There’s a whiff of a young Prince William about British-born actor Nicholas Galitzine (who’s related to Russian aristocracy.)
He plays ‘Prince Henry’ a member of the British Royal Family in forthcoming romp Red, White & Royal Blue.
The show, based on a best-selling book by Casey McQuiston, is a rom-com in which he falls in love with the son of the U.S. President, played by Taylor Zakhar Perez.
Their first meeting is a disaster, and they have a food fight, but develop feelings for each other. His mother is played by Uma Thurman. The show will be streaming from August 11 on Prime Video.
There’s a whiff of a young Prince William about British-born actor Nicholas Galitzine (who’s related to Russian aristocracy.)