Richard Northcott is film producer. Serial entrepreneur Richard Northcott trained as an accountant and worked as a financial investigator before moving into DIY. On a visit to America in 1973, he saw how DIY superstores worked and came back to Britain with plans for Dodge City, a chain of out-of-town centres with parking, refreshments, late night opening and Sunday trading. It worked a treat and by 1980 he had 32 stores, which he sold to Woolworth a year later, pocketing £17m. Northcott then started a second DIY chain called Brown Bear, which he sold to Gerald Ronson in 1984 for £5.5m. After trying his hand as a farmer and lotus-eater, Northcott was bored and went to America to try his hand in Hollywood as a film producer. It was a tough time but he helped produce the controversial hit film 9 1/2 Weeks starring Kim Basinger. In the mid-1990s he returned to Britain after a brief foray into the gold mining industry. He hit gold again in the unlikely world of pet superstores. He went into business with Giles Clarke to build the 50-strong Pet City chain, which they sold in 1996 for £150m to a US giant, collecting £19.5m apiece. The debonair Northcott also chaired Theo Fennell, the quoted upmarket jeweller. It was taken over in 2013 for £2.9m and his stake was worth around £400,000. More recently Northcott has invested in VQ, a 24-hour diner with outlets in Chelsea and Bloomsbury and with plans for other bourgeois neighbourhoods in the capital. He also has some pub interests. In all, he should easily be worth £55m.