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Mike Ashley is the richest man in the East Midlands, according to the new edition of The Sunday Times Rich List.

Mr Ashley, 53, is the region's richest person with a fortune now put at £2.437 billion, up from £2.16 billion a year ago.

The Sports Direct business, which is based in Shirebrook on the Nottinghamshire border, is worth £2.05 billion and recent windfalls from the sale of shop leases he owned on 32 stores raised nearly £87 million.

The business’s recovering share price justifies raising Mr Ashley to £2.437 billion, though his wealth remains well down on the £3.75 billion he reached four years ago.

Derbyshire-based John Bloor is the second in the regional list once again. Mr Bloor, 74, has seen a huge increase in wealth, up £404 million.

His Triumph motorcycle business and the Bloor Homes housebuilding business are worth a combined total of £1.8 billion.

The increase in wealth since last year’s Rich List is largely down to the sale of 63,000 Triumph motorcycles during 2016, 86 percent of them for export, while his housebuilding operation now runs to some 3,000 homes.

Brexit supporter and co-founder of Carphone Warehouse, David Ross is one of only two people in the East Midlands Rich List who has seen a decline in wealth, down £103 million.

He helped co-found Carphone Warehouse along with Sir Charles Dunstone, who he met at Uppingham School in Rutland.

The big retail business sits alongside his other more cultural projects. These include the 10ft high Seated Man sculpture installed on North York Moors and the pending 400-seat opera house to open in Leicestershire.

Nottingham-born David Braben, 54, is a new entry to the East Midlands Rich List, ranked at number 28, and is worth £190 million.

Mr Braben, developed Elite, the 1980s space exploration computer game, in his teens.

His Frontier Development operation has since produced a string of hit games, including Wallace & Gromit film tie-ins. He was also involved in the creation of Raspberry Pi, the computer being used to teach thousands of children to code all over the world.

Sir Harry Djanogoly was 18th on the list with a wealth of £300 million, which is the same as last year.

He isn’t just one of Nottingham’s greatest benefactors in the fields of art and education; he is also the owner of the world’s largest collection of the paintings of LS Lowry.

The name Djanogly can be found all over Sir Harry Djanogly’s adopted city of Nottingham - indicating the extent of the family’s philanthropic giving to the arts, museums and educational institutions.

The University of Nottingham, Nottingham Trent University, the Nottingham Playhouse and Lakeside Arts are just some of the organisations to benefit from Djanogly generosity.

Lisa and Tony Wilkinson and family, who own discount retail chain Wilko, are joint 19th on the rich list with a total of £252 million.

Robert Watts, the compiler of The Sunday Times Rich List, said: “For years manufacturing muscle, property development and housebuilding dominated wealth creation in this part of Britain. But now we’re seeing people from all walks of life amass vast fortunes.

“Our East Midlands Rich List includes vast sums made from computer games, mobile phones and even chicken farming. While we still have one aristocrat in this group, the backgrounds of rich listers are increasingly diverse.

“In Mike Ashley there is a former squash coach. John Bloor started out as a plasterer. Mel Morris left school at 16 and sold flooring before making a fortune from mobile gaming.

“These rags to riches stories are one of the dominant themes of this, our 30th edition of The Sunday Times Rich List.”

The full Top 20 list:

Regional rank 2018 Name 2018 wealth Wealth increase/ decrease 1 Mike Ashley £2.437bn Up £277m 2 John Bloor £1.858bn Up £404m 3 Tony Langley £1.345bn Up £25m 4 Will Adderley and family £1.2bn Up £17m 5 The Duke of Devonshire £880m No change 6 Freddie Linnett and the Murphy family £720m Up £80m 7 David Ross £700m Down £103m 8 David Wilson and family £603m Up £63m 9 Sir David Samworth and family £590m Up £15m 10 John Kirkland and family £530m Up £105m 11= Michael Cornish and family £500m No change 11= Mel Morris £500m No change 13 Leon Max £410m No change 14 William Parente and family £348m Up £11m 15 Robin Faccenda and family £330m Up £8m 16 Lord Heseltine and family £315m Up £15m 17 Sir Harry Djanogly and family £300m No change 18 Max and Stephen Griggs £264m Up £14m 19= David Clowes £252m Up £50m 19= Lisa and Tony Wilkinson and family £252m Down £43m

The Sunday Times compiled the data for the Rich List, and will be publishing it in full this Sunday, May 13.