Bernie Ecclestone, 79, makes Tatler list of most eligible singletons
Bernie Ecclestone makes Tatler list of most eligible singletons. Photo: Getty Images
Wednesday November 11 2009
He is 79 years old, barely five feet tall and even his closest friends would struggle to say he possesses movie star good looks.
Yet Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One boss, has made it on to Tatler's annual list of most eligible singletons, where he is ranked alongside such bright young things as Prince Harry, Emma Watson and model Lily Cole.
Mr Ecclestone, who is single again after splitting from his 6ft 2in wife, Slavica, is the oldest person on the Little Black Book list by several decades. However, as the magazine put it: "A 79-year-old billionaire - what's not to like?"
The businessman is worth an estimated £2.4 billion and owns a string of properties around the world. He previously owned Britain's most expensive private house, a 55,000sq foot London home for which he paid £50 million, but sold it three years later without ever moving in because his wife did not like it.
A Swiss newspaper once likened Mr Ecclestone to an 18,000-year-old hobbit. He said: "I didn't know what a hobbit was. I had to look it up. Then I realised I was definitely a hobbit because they are minuscule and brilliant, and so am I."
He is not the only surprising entry in the list of Britain's "perkiest singles", which is published in the December issue of Tatler. James Purnell, the former Work and Pensions Secretary who stepped down from the cabinet in June, is included in the top 10 and hailed as "the next Labour leader".
The oldest woman to make the cut is the 50-year-old Duchess of York, who is included alongside her daughters, Princess Eugenie, 19, and Princess Beatrice, 21.
Top of the list is Sheherezade Goldsmith, who separated from Zac Goldsmith, the environmentalist and prospective Tory MP, earlier this year.
The 200-strong list is dominated by the offspring of celebrities. Peaches and Pixie Geldof, daughters of Bob Geldof, Georgia May Jagger, daughter of Sir Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall, and Chloe Green, the teenage daughter of Top Shop owner Sir Philip Green, are rated highly.
- Anita Singh
© Telegraph.co.uk
