0:00:02 > 0:00:03BBC Four Collections -
0:00:03 > 0:00:06specially chosen programmes from the BBC Archive.
0:00:06 > 0:00:07For this Collection,
0:00:07 > 0:00:08Sir Michael Parkinson
0:00:08 > 0:00:10has selected BBC interviews
0:00:10 > 0:00:12with influential figures
0:00:12 > 0:00:13of the 20th century.
0:00:13 > 0:00:15More programmes on this theme
0:00:15 > 0:00:16and other BBC Four Collections
0:00:16 > 0:00:18are available on BBC iPlayer.
0:00:22 > 0:00:24J PAUL GETTY: Money is secondary.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27Nobody makes money unless they run a mint.
0:00:27 > 0:00:32One of the companies that I'm heavily interested in
0:00:32 > 0:00:35owes over 300 million.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39There are crackpots in England.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42I like the company of women.
0:00:42 > 0:00:48Most millionaires that I've known are very hard-working men.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51I like to think I'm average.
0:00:51 > 0:00:56ALAN WHICKER: The richest man in the world rules an empire...
0:00:56 > 0:00:58alone.
0:01:20 > 0:01:22To most of us, big money means
0:01:22 > 0:01:25the £75,000 prize on the Treble Chance.
0:01:25 > 0:01:27To be as rich as this man,
0:01:27 > 0:01:32you'd need to win the pools every Saturday for 800 years.
0:01:32 > 0:01:34He could afford to give a pound note
0:01:34 > 0:01:37to every man, woman and child in the world
0:01:37 > 0:01:39and that includes the Chinese.
0:01:39 > 0:01:43He could pay this year's income tax for everyone in Britain.
0:01:43 > 0:01:48He could spend £275,000 every day until he's 100
0:01:48 > 0:01:51and still have a bit put by.
0:01:51 > 0:01:56His personal fortune has been estimated at £400 million,
0:01:56 > 0:01:59his assets at more than £3,000 million.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03Last year, his income from just three of his companies
0:02:03 > 0:02:06was around £34,000 a day.
0:02:07 > 0:02:12He earns more each day than the average man earns in a lifetime.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15He's several times richer than the gold reserves of a sterling area.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18His real wealth is incalculable.
0:02:26 > 0:02:28J Paul Getty is unique.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31He's the only American dollar billionaire.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34A billion dollars is more than £357 million.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38Only the legendary rulers of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia
0:02:38 > 0:02:41can compare financially with this private citizen
0:02:41 > 0:02:44who becomes more of an exception every day.
0:02:44 > 0:02:49For he is an absolute monarch. No man tells him what to do.
0:02:49 > 0:02:50No group of directors,
0:02:50 > 0:02:54no shareholders influence his lonely decisions.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57Getty is a one-man international power -
0:02:57 > 0:03:0170 companies, 19,000 employees,
0:03:01 > 0:03:05his private empire of refineries and tankers and immense oil reserves
0:03:05 > 0:03:08submerged in a complex corporate tangle
0:03:08 > 0:03:11and held firmly under his own strong thumb.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14For no-one puts the pressure on
0:03:14 > 0:03:18the largest independent oil-producer in the world.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22Around the globe, the Getty oil wells gush.
0:03:22 > 0:03:2580,000 barrels a day from the neutral zone of Arabia.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27More from Iran and Canada.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31In the United States, wherever oil is produced, there he is,
0:03:31 > 0:03:34along the Pacific coast and in the Rocky Mountains,
0:03:34 > 0:03:36North Dakota and Wyoming,
0:03:36 > 0:03:39New Mexico and Texas and Mississippi.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42One company alone owns 6,000 oil wells.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46His liquid wealth, carried around the world by the Getty fleet -
0:03:46 > 0:03:49by 29 giant tankers just built in France and Japan
0:03:49 > 0:03:52and plying between the oil fields
0:03:52 > 0:03:55and refineries near Naples in Italy,
0:03:55 > 0:03:57at Mizushima and Kawasaki in Japan,
0:03:57 > 0:04:00at Wilmington, Delaware, in California and Kansas,
0:04:00 > 0:04:02Texas and Colorado.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05Across the American continent,
0:04:05 > 0:04:0810,000 service stations sell the petrol they produce.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14Mr Getty controls office blocks and hotels in New York...
0:04:14 > 0:04:15at Acapulco, Mexico...
0:04:15 > 0:04:18Tulsa, Oklahoma... Los Angeles.
0:04:18 > 0:04:22Then there's an aircraft corporation and his insurance,
0:04:22 > 0:04:24life assurance and finance companies.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28This, then, is the realm of J Paul Getty.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31A complex kingdom,
0:04:31 > 0:04:35ruled not from some sky-scraping concrete tower in Manhattan,
0:04:35 > 0:04:38an exotic potentate's palace in Arabia
0:04:38 > 0:04:40or a bustling building in Beirut,
0:04:40 > 0:04:42but from here...
0:04:46 > 0:04:51..from a rambling 16th-century country house in 700 acres of Surrey,
0:04:51 > 0:04:53linked to the outside world
0:04:53 > 0:04:57by just two telephone lines through the Guilford exchange.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02The whole improbable empire of Mr Getty
0:05:02 > 0:05:04is controlled from this country seat of power
0:05:04 > 0:05:07where he moved in the summer of 1960
0:05:07 > 0:05:10after living in modest hotel suites in Paris and London,
0:05:10 > 0:05:13and though he talks of returning to California,
0:05:13 > 0:05:15here, it seems, he'll stay.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18For though the Getty empire may be far-flung,
0:05:18 > 0:05:20its founder is not much of a traveller.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23He won't fly since he was caught in a Tornado 20 years ago,
0:05:23 > 0:05:26and he's fearful of the sea,
0:05:26 > 0:05:29which makes getting back to the United States something of a problem
0:05:29 > 0:05:34and helps to explain why his nightly telephone bill can be £140.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39The rich, it's been said, are different from the rest of us.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41They have more money.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43But, of course, there's much more to it.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46Everything about multi-millionaires
0:05:46 > 0:05:48is so contrary to our ordinary experience
0:05:48 > 0:05:52that they're remote and mysterious as beings from another planet.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55They don't seem to belong to our human race.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59Few of us would be what we are today if we could afford to be different
0:05:59 > 0:06:02and everyone's reaction, your reaction,
0:06:02 > 0:06:05to great wealth is self-revealing.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08For some, the mere existence of the very rich is an offence.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11For others, the only thing wrong with them
0:06:11 > 0:06:14is that their unlimited pleasures can't be shared.
0:06:14 > 0:06:15But in reality of course,
0:06:15 > 0:06:18even multi-millionaires soon reach the limits
0:06:18 > 0:06:21to the purely personal gratification great wealth can buy.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24They can only eat so much food, however exotic,
0:06:24 > 0:06:27only live in one house at a time, however splendid,
0:06:27 > 0:06:31only sleep in one bed, use one bath, wear one suit.
0:06:31 > 0:06:35To this modest man, such enforced restraint comes naturally.
0:06:35 > 0:06:41This is his counting house, with just two young secretaries to help him.
0:06:41 > 0:06:46There's no Telex, no ticker tape, no high pressure.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48SECRETARY: Was that international?
0:06:48 > 0:06:51Oh, yes, just a minute, I'll see if Mr Getty's available.
0:06:51 > 0:06:52Will you hold on?
0:06:52 > 0:06:57WHICKER: 'In a pleasant, unassuming study, with an ordinary desk
0:06:57 > 0:07:02'in an ordinary clutter, Mr Getty proceeds calmly and purposefully
0:07:02 > 0:07:03'towards his second billion.'
0:07:03 > 0:07:06I think we might as well wait a while.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11I don't think we have enough data yet to, er...
0:07:12 > 0:07:15..do anything definite now.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18I think it'll be about next month
0:07:18 > 0:07:20before we have the data.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23Yes.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26Yes, it's being processed in Texas.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30All right.
0:07:31 > 0:07:33Thank you. Goodbye.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41WHICKER: Mr Getty always knows exactly what his empire is about,
0:07:41 > 0:07:43and he's probably the only man who does,
0:07:43 > 0:07:48for his fortune remains as baffling and enigmatic as his private life.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51Like an iceberg, the vital mass is submerged from sight.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53But on the surface
0:07:53 > 0:07:57there's the Getty Oil Company with nine consolidated companies,
0:07:57 > 0:08:03profits last year conservatively estimated after taxes at £5,700,000.
0:08:03 > 0:08:08Mr Getty owns 80% of this company and elects all the directors.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12So, £4,600,000 to Mr Getty.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14Tidewater Oil Company,
0:08:14 > 0:08:17with 30 corporate subsidiaries across 82 countries.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21Profits after taxes - £10,700,000.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25'46%, or another £5,000,000, to Mr Getty.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28Skelly Oil, with 20 subsidiaries,
0:08:28 > 0:08:31profits after taxes - £9,000,000
0:08:31 > 0:08:36and 30%, or £2,700,000, to Mr Getty.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40So, with incidental salaries, he's earning,
0:08:40 > 0:08:42for a regulation working day,
0:08:42 > 0:08:45about £4,000 an hour.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48His income, or as his accountants prefer to say,
0:08:48 > 0:08:53his increase in wealth, was around £12.5 million.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57His income for a month would pay the salaries of the Prime Minister,
0:08:57 > 0:09:03the Cabinet and all the 627 MPs at Westminster for a year.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07But alongside his countless assets,
0:09:07 > 0:09:09this income is relatively modest
0:09:09 > 0:09:11for his money remains within the business.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14"It's in the books," he says, "not in the bank."
0:09:14 > 0:09:17And as he doesn't draw it out, he doesn't pay tax on it.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19It's safe from the Inland Revenue,
0:09:19 > 0:09:22from predatory international taxmen
0:09:22 > 0:09:25who've made it all but impossible for anyone, ever again,
0:09:25 > 0:09:29to accumulate the incredible wealth of a Getty,
0:09:29 > 0:09:31of a billionaire who's still unsure
0:09:31 > 0:09:34why he succeeded when others have failed.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37I've sometimes though about that
0:09:37 > 0:09:39and I really don't know of any quality I have
0:09:39 > 0:09:41that many others don't have.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45I'm not... I'm hard-working, I like to think,
0:09:45 > 0:09:47but I know others just as hard-working.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51I'm intelligent, I like to think.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55I know others just as intelligent or more intelligent.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01I'm imaginative, I like to think.
0:10:02 > 0:10:07I have many friends and acquaintances that are just as imaginative,
0:10:07 > 0:10:09or more imaginative.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13I always wish that I had a better personality.
0:10:15 > 0:10:16That, er...
0:10:18 > 0:10:20..I could entertain people better,
0:10:20 > 0:10:25was a better conversationalist, um...
0:10:27 > 0:10:32..always worried I might be a little on the dull side as a companion,
0:10:32 > 0:10:34and, um...
0:10:36 > 0:10:38..always felt that, um,
0:10:38 > 0:10:42although I've nearly always tried to do my best...
0:10:44 > 0:10:47..when I've reviewed my efforts, I've nearly always seen
0:10:47 > 0:10:50that I could have done better and should have done better.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54So how is it, then, that you've come out so very much on top?
0:10:54 > 0:10:56The difference between the successful businessman
0:10:56 > 0:11:01and one possibly not so successful is that, um...
0:11:02 > 0:11:06..maybe 37 different qualities
0:11:06 > 0:11:11are required for great success...
0:11:12 > 0:11:18..and, um, if a man has 35 of those qualities
0:11:18 > 0:11:21he makes a more modest success.
0:11:23 > 0:11:31But just what those two missing qualities might be, I don't know.
0:11:31 > 0:11:35Did you set out to become the richest man in the world?
0:11:35 > 0:11:38No, I never had any interest in acquiring...
0:11:38 > 0:11:41- How did it happen, then? - Um...
0:11:41 > 0:11:44Well, I suppose it happened
0:11:44 > 0:11:48because my father had built up a very substantial business,
0:11:48 > 0:11:51flourishing business,
0:11:51 > 0:11:55I was the only child and, um...
0:11:59 > 0:12:01..I had to carry on the business.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04Yet, if your bank balance is any scorecard,
0:12:04 > 0:12:07you're a thousand times more successful.
0:12:08 > 0:12:15Well, I started at a pretty high altitude, you might say,
0:12:15 > 0:12:17and he started at sea level, so that's...
0:12:19 > 0:12:22You obviously must be a calculating man,
0:12:22 > 0:12:24but to have such success in business,
0:12:24 > 0:12:27do you not also need to be something of a gambler?
0:12:27 > 0:12:31Well, I suppose it depends on how you define gambler.
0:12:31 > 0:12:37Um, gambling is risk-taking.
0:12:37 > 0:12:45It might be said that the owner of a casino gambles, he takes risk,
0:12:45 > 0:12:47but he has the odds in his favour.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50In other words, it's intelligent gambling.
0:12:50 > 0:12:55To gamble against the casino, I would call unintelligent gambling
0:12:55 > 0:13:03and I've never tried to devote my time to unintelligent risk-taking.
0:13:03 > 0:13:08I think it's difficult enough to take risks intelligently and, um...
0:13:09 > 0:13:13..when you know the odds are against you,
0:13:13 > 0:13:15I don't see the point of it.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18So if you wanted to gamble...?
0:13:18 > 0:13:20I'd buy a casino.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24You've written a series of articles, Mr Getty, about success in business
0:13:24 > 0:13:28and they've appeared in what the Americans call a girly magazine
0:13:28 > 0:13:31full of nudes and a sort of sophistication.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34What made you choose this curious shop window?
0:13:34 > 0:13:39Well, because everybody seems to read it and, um...
0:13:40 > 0:13:48..it's especially read by young businessmen
0:13:48 > 0:13:52and I wanted to get the message over to them
0:13:52 > 0:13:57rather than to people in my own age bracket.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01What was the message?
0:14:01 > 0:14:08Well, about the importance of having an independent view on things,
0:14:08 > 0:14:12not being influenced by what everybody else says.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16If I'd been influenced by what everybody else said in the '30s,
0:14:16 > 0:14:19I'd never have bought any shares in the '30s.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23The shares I had, I would have sold.
0:14:25 > 0:14:32Shares were 6 in 1935...
0:14:34 > 0:14:39..and today they're about, oh...
0:14:39 > 0:14:43um...300.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46And today, Mr Getty, what are you doing today?
0:14:46 > 0:14:50Well, I'm still buying.
0:14:50 > 0:14:55Are there any other billionaires on the horizon coming towards the top
0:14:55 > 0:14:59or do you think that the heroic age of the billionaire is almost over,
0:14:59 > 0:15:02- that you're the last of the line? - Oh, I don't...I don't...
0:15:02 > 0:15:04I don't suppose so,
0:15:04 > 0:15:06I think that others in the future
0:15:06 > 0:15:09will probably do much more than I've ever done.
0:15:09 > 0:15:11WHICKER: Up to now, of course,
0:15:11 > 0:15:13no-one's done more than Mr Getty's done
0:15:13 > 0:15:16and only the ruler of Kuwait and the king of Saudi Arabia,
0:15:16 > 0:15:19who've also come up in the world through the oil business,
0:15:19 > 0:15:20have done as well.
0:15:20 > 0:15:22When the three richest men met in the desert,
0:15:22 > 0:15:25the sheiks learned with surprised that, in more ways than one,
0:15:25 > 0:15:29Mr Getty from Minneapolis could speak their language.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32He'd learned Arabic from gramophone records.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35Mr Getty is a thorough man, though not,
0:15:35 > 0:15:37as sometimes appears, infallible.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39Here he was returning to the scene of
0:15:39 > 0:15:41the biggest mistake of his business life.
0:15:41 > 0:15:45In 1931, when the East Texas field came in,
0:15:45 > 0:15:47and Texas oil went down to ten cents a barrel,
0:15:47 > 0:15:49he pulled out of the Middle East.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53Had he stayed on, today he'd have been even richer.
0:15:53 > 0:15:5630 years later and rich enough,
0:15:56 > 0:15:59he meets the two sheiks who were born upon
0:15:59 > 0:16:01and never left this oil-rich desert.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04Mr Getty, who bought his way back beside them,
0:16:04 > 0:16:08was born in Minnesota just over 70 years ago.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12'His ancestors on his father's side were Irish, from Londonderry.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15His mother was half Scots, half Dutch.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19Like the sheiks, he was never poor. Those well-publicised barefooted boys
0:16:19 > 0:16:22who tread the road from selling newspapers
0:16:22 > 0:16:25to owning millions are rapidly becoming an extinct species,
0:16:25 > 0:16:26like the buffalo.
0:16:26 > 0:16:29Young Paul was just another American boy.
0:16:29 > 0:16:34CHILD: "February 17th 1904 - fine day.
0:16:34 > 0:16:36"In the evening Papa gave me a whipping
0:16:36 > 0:16:38"for saying he was a doggone fool
0:16:38 > 0:16:42"and that the chambermaid had better go soak her head in Jip's mouth.
0:16:42 > 0:16:46"March 15th - Harry came up and we rolled for marbles,
0:16:46 > 0:16:49"and now I have 275!
0:16:49 > 0:16:54"In the evening I read a book called In Times Of Peril by GA Henty."
0:16:54 > 0:16:57WHICKER: His father had started from poverty
0:16:57 > 0:16:58but in 1903 bought the lease
0:16:58 > 0:17:03to 11,000 acres of Oklahoma Indian territory for £200 and struck oil.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06When he died at the age of 74,
0:17:06 > 0:17:09he was worth £5 million.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13A Methodist and a more religious man than his only son, he left Paul
0:17:13 > 0:17:16less than £200,000 mainly because he was displeased
0:17:16 > 0:17:19that he'd already been married and divorced.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23However, receiving only one thirtieth of his father's fortune
0:17:23 > 0:17:24didn't matter much by then
0:17:24 > 0:17:27for young Getty had made his first million dollars
0:17:27 > 0:17:3013 years earlier, at the age of 24.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34In those days, the man who was to become richer than anyone else
0:17:34 > 0:17:37had other thoughts than business.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59He turned, with concentration, to marriage.
0:17:59 > 0:18:01But with wife number one,
0:18:01 > 0:18:03wife number two,
0:18:03 > 0:18:06wife number three,
0:18:06 > 0:18:08wife number four,
0:18:08 > 0:18:10wife number five,
0:18:10 > 0:18:12it never quite seemed to work out,
0:18:12 > 0:18:17though, whenever he was single, Paul Getty remained a very social man.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30Today there are four sons in his business and seven grandchildren.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32One day they'll inherit a private empire
0:18:32 > 0:18:34such as the world has never known
0:18:34 > 0:18:37and all the responsibilities of a man, who, now and then,
0:18:37 > 0:18:42must wish he still had only the gentle money worries
0:18:42 > 0:18:44of once upon a time.
0:18:44 > 0:18:46CHILD: "Monday June 20th 1904.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49"In the afternoon, I went down to Papa's office.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51"I earned a dollar!
0:18:51 > 0:18:55"I'm going to put my money in the bank as soon as I get 12.
0:18:55 > 0:18:57"June 23rd.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00"In the afternoon, I went to the Metropolitan Theatre.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03"The play was The Billionaire.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06"In the evening, I read and counted my marbles.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08"I now have 600.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10"November 26th.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13"In the afternoon, Papa gave me 50 cents.
0:19:13 > 0:19:15"I put a dollar and 10 cents in the bank.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18"I now have five dollars and 58 cents.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20"Wow!"
0:19:20 > 0:19:22WHICKER: Getty's faithful to his heroes.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25As a child, he fell upon the Victorian author
0:19:25 > 0:19:28of adventure stories for boys, GA Henty,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31and an unlikely and endearing aspect -
0:19:31 > 0:19:35these books remain the rosebud of citizen Getty.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38They're always upon his bedside table and near his desk.
0:19:38 > 0:19:43Stout Victorian volumes with such stirring titles as Winning His Spurs,
0:19:43 > 0:19:46Bravest Of Brave,
0:19:46 > 0:19:50and often, the solitary billionaire retreats
0:19:50 > 0:19:53into the simple, clean-cut world of Henty.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57MAN: "The masses of Britons poured down to the attack,
0:19:57 > 0:20:01"then their trumpets sounded and they again advanced,
0:20:01 > 0:20:05"the cavalry in the rear moving forward to join those in the advance,
0:20:05 > 0:20:09"but before they accomplished this, the Britons were upon them.
0:20:09 > 0:20:11"Showers of darts were poured in, and the horsemen,
0:20:11 > 0:20:13"unable to stand the onslaught,
0:20:13 > 0:20:17"rode into the spaces between the companies of the infantry..."
0:20:17 > 0:20:19WHICKER: Not all of Paul Getty's heroes
0:20:19 > 0:20:21come from boys' adventure stories.
0:20:21 > 0:20:25The richest man in the world admires Julius Caesar and Mussolini,
0:20:25 > 0:20:27Winston Churchill and President Kennedy,
0:20:27 > 0:20:30but who is there that he could envy?
0:20:30 > 0:20:32I've envied many people.
0:20:32 > 0:20:34I envy, um,
0:20:34 > 0:20:36people that are, um...
0:20:38 > 0:20:41..younger and stronger and, um...
0:20:43 > 0:20:46- ..more cheerful than I am. - More cheerful?
0:20:46 > 0:20:50People that have better character than I have.
0:20:52 > 0:20:54What about the ordinary man in the street?
0:20:54 > 0:20:58Do you envy the man whose money problems
0:20:58 > 0:21:01are not too much money but not enough money?
0:21:02 > 0:21:04I think a lot can be said for him.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07I think that he has many advantages.
0:21:10 > 0:21:17Large financial responsibilities are not any key to cheerfulness.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20There's great virtue in being a small businessman.
0:21:20 > 0:21:22There is?
0:21:22 > 0:21:26There can be great happiness in it, too. Yes...
0:21:27 > 0:21:30I mean, successful small businessmen.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32But small by your standards, Mr Getty?
0:21:32 > 0:21:35Well, no, I'd say what's generally known as small.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38I mean a man who has a small business, but is comfortable there.
0:21:38 > 0:21:44He's got, um, business worth £100,000, or something like that.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51He has the best clothes that he can wear, he eats the best food,
0:21:51 > 0:21:56he travels when he wants to travel, lives in a comfortable home,
0:21:56 > 0:21:58he has a comfortable car, he goes to the theatre
0:21:58 > 0:22:01whenever he wants to go to the theatre.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05And, um, he's not a, um...
0:22:07 > 0:22:13He has the blessed boon of anonymity.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17I suppose some people might see you as lucky, Mr Getty,
0:22:17 > 0:22:19some as a cold, calculating machine.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23Others, perhaps, as a daring and unique business genius
0:22:23 > 0:22:26with a Midas touch. How do you see yourself?
0:22:26 > 0:22:27Well, I see myself...
0:22:31 > 0:22:36..as a...you might say as a tennis player.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42Just trying to volley the ball back.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44But who's serving, Mr Getty?
0:22:44 > 0:22:47Well, um, if I didn't...
0:22:47 > 0:22:48My business mail...
0:22:48 > 0:22:53I get probably 50 letters a day, um...
0:22:56 > 0:23:00I'm supposed to make the final decision or express an opinion.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02I try to...
0:23:02 > 0:23:05I try to keep current with my business mail.
0:23:07 > 0:23:13I also get...maybe a thousand letters a week.
0:23:15 > 0:23:20Some weeks... three or four thousand letters
0:23:20 > 0:23:25from...strangers, you might say, from the general public.
0:23:25 > 0:23:27Some cranks.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29Crackpots.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31Some very worthy people, too.
0:23:32 > 0:23:38But, um, obviously, if I read 24 hours a day,
0:23:38 > 0:23:43I wouldn't be able to go through more than a small fraction of them.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47But my business mail does require an answer
0:23:47 > 0:23:49and, as I say, I just try to...
0:23:51 > 0:23:54..return the ball, so to speak.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57I remember seeing...
0:24:00 > 0:24:05..the desk of President Truman.
0:24:07 > 0:24:15And he had a little sign on the desk that said, "The buck stops here."
0:24:15 > 0:24:18He couldn't pass the buck!
0:24:18 > 0:24:19And, um...
0:24:20 > 0:24:23..when you're president of a company,
0:24:23 > 0:24:25you can't very well pass the buck.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30But you have more money than you or your sons
0:24:30 > 0:24:34or your grandsons could ever conceivably need.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37Is there any necessity to keep on sending the ball back?
0:24:39 > 0:24:44No, but I've never felt particularly inclined to sell out.
0:24:44 > 0:24:49But if you sold out for £3,000 million or £3,500 million,
0:24:49 > 0:24:52it doesn't seem to make much difference, really,
0:24:52 > 0:24:54when you're in this kind of astronomic figure.
0:24:56 > 0:24:57Well...
0:24:58 > 0:25:00..as we said before, business is business.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03I mean, it's either good business or it's bad business.
0:25:03 > 0:25:05Just because it's a high figure
0:25:05 > 0:25:09doesn't necessarily make it a good sale, does it?
0:25:09 > 0:25:12But if you're going to wait until the time of an advantageous sale,
0:25:12 > 0:25:15you may to wait 50 years or so.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19But if you sell, what are you going to put it in?
0:25:22 > 0:25:25Well, you'd lie back and beachcomb, Mr Getty.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28Yes, but, um, you, um...
0:25:28 > 0:25:31you'd probably have worries then, you know,
0:25:31 > 0:25:34about your capital
0:25:34 > 0:25:38and you wouldn't have the control over it.
0:25:38 > 0:25:39And, um...
0:25:42 > 0:25:44I don't know.
0:25:44 > 0:25:49I think that you might jump from the frying pan into the fire.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52I get the feeling, Mr Getty, that you get far more pleasure out of
0:25:52 > 0:25:54actively controlling this empire of yours
0:25:54 > 0:25:57than you ever would lying back on the beach.
0:25:57 > 0:25:58Well, I suppose so,
0:25:58 > 0:26:02although I have always thought that I was quite talented as an idler.
0:26:02 > 0:26:08If I had the opportunity to idle, I could do it pretty well.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10In theory, of course, a man's reward
0:26:10 > 0:26:13is in ratio to his contribution to society
0:26:13 > 0:26:15to the value of the work he does.
0:26:15 > 0:26:21Yes, it's the services that he renders to society...
0:26:22 > 0:26:28..and not what some people might say the true value of the services
0:26:28 > 0:26:31but what the public says is the value of the services.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34You see, if your income, as has been calculated,
0:26:34 > 0:26:37is some £35 million a year,
0:26:37 > 0:26:41that's £700,000 a week, or about £100,000 a day.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44What are you doing, Mr Getty, to deserve all that?
0:26:44 > 0:26:47Well, I suppose that...
0:26:49 > 0:26:54..the services that I've rendered have been mostly in finding oil.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02Finding oil is not a very easy thing to do.
0:27:03 > 0:27:05Some people find oil, other people don't.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09If you do have this absurd income, how can you spend it?
0:27:09 > 0:27:12How can you use it? How can you get through it?
0:27:12 > 0:27:17Well, in one sense of the word, I don't have it,
0:27:17 > 0:27:19it's my companies that have it.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22It's my interest in my companies that has it.
0:27:22 > 0:27:28It isn't that somebody brings a keg of money
0:27:28 > 0:27:31every morning at 9 o'clock...
0:27:31 > 0:27:33HE CHUCKLES
0:27:33 > 0:27:34..to the bank!
0:27:34 > 0:27:36Deposits it in a vault there.
0:27:36 > 0:27:38But you own 81% of your company...
0:27:38 > 0:27:40- Yes. - ..so it's as good as having a keg.
0:27:40 > 0:27:45Well, in effect, and if, as and when I ever sold out,
0:27:45 > 0:27:48if it were possible to sell out...
0:27:51 > 0:27:54..if the companies are ever liquidated,
0:27:54 > 0:27:56then I might have some money,
0:27:56 > 0:27:59but until that far-off day...
0:27:59 > 0:28:02- You're struggling on. - ..I'm struggling on.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06Well, I don't complain of hardship. I don't, um...
0:28:06 > 0:28:10say that I'm worried, um...
0:28:10 > 0:28:14about whether I have a taxi fare or not...
0:28:14 > 0:28:18or whether I can afford to, um...
0:28:18 > 0:28:23make a trip to...Paris and back.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27Nevertheless...
0:28:27 > 0:28:32And I have my personal business, too, which is relatively very small
0:28:32 > 0:28:35compared to my company interest,
0:28:35 > 0:28:40but, um...I have many times borrowed money from banks...
0:28:41 > 0:28:46..in my personal business, in order to drill necessary oil wells,
0:28:46 > 0:28:52and, um, I never had the feeling that I was, um, flush in cash.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55WHICKER: Mr Getty's certainly flush in art.
0:28:55 > 0:28:57His collection at Sutton Place
0:28:57 > 0:29:00has just been valued at a million-and-a-half...pounds.
0:29:00 > 0:29:02But though these paintings decorate his galleries,
0:29:02 > 0:29:04enrich his sitting rooms,
0:29:04 > 0:29:07embellish his bedroom, they don't belong to him.
0:29:07 > 0:29:11They're owned by a company called Art Properties Inc,
0:29:11 > 0:29:13a United States corporation,
0:29:13 > 0:29:17the stock of which, it turns out, is owned 100% by Mr Getty.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20The larger part of his art collection's at another home
0:29:20 > 0:29:21at Santa Monica, California.
0:29:21 > 0:29:24That collection's a foundation and open to the public.
0:29:24 > 0:29:28Here at Sutton Place for his private enjoyment,
0:29:28 > 0:29:31such riches as Veronese's Lady In Red,
0:29:31 > 0:29:33Gainsborough's Countess Of Chesterfield,
0:29:33 > 0:29:36Gentileschi's Rest On The Flight.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40Treasures enough, you'd think, to entrance and enthuse
0:29:40 > 0:29:44their proud and happy majority stockholder.
0:29:44 > 0:29:45On top of such artistic delight,
0:29:45 > 0:29:48there's another satisfaction involved.
0:29:48 > 0:29:52Diana And Her Nymphs, this magnificent Rubens, which cost him
0:29:52 > 0:29:57£130,000 two years ago, has, like most of his careful investments,
0:29:57 > 0:29:59satisfactorily appreciated.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02It's just been valued at three times what he paid.
0:30:02 > 0:30:05St Bartholomew, the Rembrandt he bought last year,
0:30:05 > 0:30:11almost accidentally, for £190,000, is today worth double.
0:30:11 > 0:30:13He has the habit of making the right decisions.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16He always wins.
0:30:17 > 0:30:21The charm of the very rich, it's been said, is not their wealth,
0:30:21 > 0:30:23but the slightly hangdog look they wear.
0:30:23 > 0:30:27And there's no doubt that Paul Getty takes his life
0:30:27 > 0:30:31and his pleasures with morose preoccupation and melancholy.
0:30:31 > 0:30:35His passionate interest in his own business appears joyless.
0:30:35 > 0:30:39But, for him, it has the enduring fascination that others find in love
0:30:39 > 0:30:41or fellowship or in any of those activities
0:30:41 > 0:30:44to which men have ever thought it worthwhile
0:30:44 > 0:30:47to devote their lives and themselves.
0:30:47 > 0:30:51But achievements outside this all-devouring business?
0:30:51 > 0:30:53Would he find more satisfaction, say,
0:30:53 > 0:30:57in having painted his Rubens than in being a billionaire?
0:30:57 > 0:30:59I don't know that I would,
0:30:59 > 0:31:03um...prefer to be a successful painter
0:31:03 > 0:31:06rather than a successful businessman.
0:31:06 > 0:31:14I think that, um...business is in its way just as important as painting.
0:31:15 > 0:31:21I'd certainly rather be...a good painter than a bad businessman.
0:31:21 > 0:31:25But if I had my choice of being a good painter or a good businessman,
0:31:25 > 0:31:29I think I'd be just as well satisfied to be a good businessman.
0:31:29 > 0:31:31You said that a man with a lot of money
0:31:31 > 0:31:33tends to become rather sceptical of people.
0:31:33 > 0:31:35Have you found yourself becoming
0:31:35 > 0:31:38more and more suspicious of those around you?
0:31:38 > 0:31:41Well, I try not to, um...
0:31:43 > 0:31:47...be suspicious because I think that's a, um...
0:31:47 > 0:31:51a bad road to travel. One can become so suspicious
0:31:51 > 0:31:53that one's suspicious of everyone.
0:31:53 > 0:31:55Your art dealers tell me
0:31:55 > 0:31:58that you're the most suspicious man they've ever had to deal with.
0:31:58 > 0:32:05I think you could go into a man's house and, um...criticise the man,
0:32:05 > 0:32:08criticise his wife, criticise his children...
0:32:09 > 0:32:14..and, um, he might still love you like a brother, but, er...
0:32:14 > 0:32:17if he shows you a picture on the wall
0:32:17 > 0:32:22and tells you that's a beautiful so-and-so,
0:32:22 > 0:32:26and you say, "Well, I don't think it is. I think it's a fake,"
0:32:26 > 0:32:29then you've lost his friendship for ever.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32Of course, it's been suggested that your Rubens isn't a Rubens,
0:32:32 > 0:32:34so you've lost one or two friends that way.
0:32:34 > 0:32:36Well...
0:32:38 > 0:32:41..um...I'm satisfied with it.
0:32:41 > 0:32:47It's, um...been authenticated by some very good people.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50Many people believe that all millionaires
0:32:50 > 0:32:53live lives of unlimited pleasure and luxury.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56So this is a belief that could well stimulate feelings of envy
0:32:56 > 0:32:58and resentment, even of hatred.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01How have these reactions affected you?
0:33:01 > 0:33:05Oh, I think many people do have a wrong idea.
0:33:05 > 0:33:10However, I think that, um... most millionaires that I've known
0:33:10 > 0:33:15are very hard-working men, very hard-working indeed.
0:33:15 > 0:33:18I think that, um...probably, um...
0:33:21 > 0:33:23..of all the classes I know,
0:33:23 > 0:33:27the millionaire businessman is the hardest working.
0:33:31 > 0:33:37I would think they work longer hours than any class of workmen work.
0:33:39 > 0:33:41Many of these millionaires seem to have obtained
0:33:41 > 0:33:45relief from the uneasiness, the initial suspicion and distrust
0:33:45 > 0:33:49that tends to characterise the rich man's relations with his fellow men
0:33:49 > 0:33:51by philanthropy,
0:33:51 > 0:33:54by the wholesale distribution of much of their fortunes.
0:33:54 > 0:33:56But your benefactions, Mr Getty,
0:33:56 > 0:33:59don't appear to be commensurate with the scale of your fortune.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01Well, I think that, um...
0:34:03 > 0:34:08..a man is doing a worthy work if he builds up his business,
0:34:08 > 0:34:14he gives employment to, um, large groups of people.
0:34:16 > 0:34:18And, um, renders service to the public...
0:34:20 > 0:34:26..and the benefits there, I mean making a living for...
0:34:28 > 0:34:33..thousands of people, protecting them against old age and sickness.
0:34:34 > 0:34:38And doing it yourself rather than delegating somebody else to do it.
0:34:38 > 0:34:41I mean, when you give money to a charity...
0:34:41 > 0:34:47the charity may be doing the same thing that you're doing.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52It may not be doing it any better or as well.
0:34:54 > 0:34:57I see you've said, "I never give money to individuals.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00"It is very unrewarding and unscientific."
0:35:00 > 0:35:03Do you have any philanthropic policy at all?
0:35:03 > 0:35:05Yes, that is one of the...
0:35:05 > 0:35:08Well, I discussed, um...
0:35:09 > 0:35:15..the problem of individual giving with many people.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18I once discussed it with, um...
0:35:19 > 0:35:23..Mr Rockefeller and, um...
0:35:23 > 0:35:29Um...I understand that his policy is that he cannot help individuals.
0:35:29 > 0:35:33In your daily round, Mr Getty, how much money do you carry on you?
0:35:33 > 0:35:37Oh...very little, a few pounds.
0:35:37 > 0:35:41Probably no more than you do or anyone else does.
0:35:41 > 0:35:44Do you find that shops and hotels and restaurants
0:35:44 > 0:35:46expect you to be a big spender?
0:35:47 > 0:35:49No, I don't think so.
0:35:49 > 0:35:51I don't think they do.
0:35:53 > 0:35:57I hope they don't because they might be disappointed.
0:35:57 > 0:35:59LAUGHS
0:35:59 > 0:36:04There are a great many stories, Mr Getty, of your care with money.
0:36:04 > 0:36:08For example, you've installed a pay telephone box here in Sutton Place
0:36:08 > 0:36:11to prevent your guests abusing your hospitality
0:36:11 > 0:36:13by making trunk and toll calls.
0:36:14 > 0:36:18Well, I think right-thinking guests would, um...
0:36:18 > 0:36:21consider that was a, um...
0:36:21 > 0:36:24a...a benefit. It's, um...
0:36:26 > 0:36:27..rather, um...
0:36:29 > 0:36:31..daunting if you're visiting somewhere
0:36:31 > 0:36:34and you have to put in a long-distance call and, um...
0:36:36 > 0:36:38..charge your host with it.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41It's said, Mr Getty, that you've waited outside a dog show
0:36:41 > 0:36:44for the entry fee to come down by two or three shillings
0:36:44 > 0:36:45and that you eat late in restaurants
0:36:45 > 0:36:48to avoid paying the supplement for the orchestra.
0:36:49 > 0:36:54Well, um, I might have done that occasionally
0:36:54 > 0:36:59because, after all, that's what a great many people do.
0:36:59 > 0:37:01What most people do, don't they?
0:37:02 > 0:37:05And, um, I mean if it's within reason...
0:37:05 > 0:37:06If you, er...
0:37:06 > 0:37:10You'd probably do it yourself if you know that, um...
0:37:11 > 0:37:17..a certain restaurant that, er, the cover charge is off at 10 o'clock
0:37:17 > 0:37:21and, um...
0:37:21 > 0:37:24it's a substantial cover charge and you're a large party
0:37:24 > 0:37:29and it's five minutes to ten, would you want to go in and, er...
0:37:30 > 0:37:38er, spend maybe, um, 10 or 15 in cover charges for the party...
0:37:39 > 0:37:41..for the sake of four minutes?
0:37:41 > 0:37:46That'd either be splashing money around, showing off...
0:37:48 > 0:37:54..or else...just not being with it, as the saying is.
0:37:55 > 0:37:57It's said, Mr Getty, that you're so with it
0:37:57 > 0:38:01that you'll wait for a lift to avoid paying for a taxi.
0:38:02 > 0:38:03No.
0:38:03 > 0:38:05No, I, um...
0:38:06 > 0:38:08I don't wait for a lift.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12Er...if I had to wait two or three minutes I certainly would.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14You have more money, as I said,
0:38:14 > 0:38:16than you or your sons, or your grandsons,
0:38:16 > 0:38:19or your great-grandsons could ever conceivably need.
0:38:19 > 0:38:20Surely half an hour of your time
0:38:20 > 0:38:23is worth more than, say, a five shilling taxi fare?
0:38:23 > 0:38:25Surely you've no reason to accept
0:38:25 > 0:38:27the slightest inconvenience at any time?
0:38:27 > 0:38:31Even if it is another 10 or 15 on a restaurant bill.
0:38:31 > 0:38:33- What is 10 or 15 to you? - Well, that's true,
0:38:33 > 0:38:34It's less than a farthing to anyone else.
0:38:34 > 0:38:39But don't you think that that's something to do with human nature?
0:38:39 > 0:38:41Now, my idea of
0:38:41 > 0:38:48a good place to spend money is right in my own business.
0:38:48 > 0:38:50But you're not enjoying that, you're not getting pleasure out of it.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53Yes, I do. I like to see a new refinery
0:38:53 > 0:38:56I like to see a new chemical plant.
0:38:57 > 0:38:59I like to see a new tanker.
0:39:01 > 0:39:02I like to see a new office building.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09Because it's, um, it's constructive.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12In the first place, we hope it's a good investment.
0:39:15 > 0:39:17It's going to give employment to a lot of people.
0:39:19 > 0:39:24A tanker's going to employ people, probably for the next 25 years.
0:39:24 > 0:39:28It's going to transport oil, oil products.
0:39:28 > 0:39:31It's going to benefit humanity by that.
0:39:31 > 0:39:35We hope it earns a small profit,
0:39:35 > 0:39:38which ultimately will return the money invested
0:39:38 > 0:39:40and a low rate of interest.
0:39:40 > 0:39:44So it often seems that lesser multi-millionaires, less rich people,
0:39:44 > 0:39:47are able to lead much grander, fuller lives than you.
0:39:47 > 0:39:49Well, it's, er...
0:39:49 > 0:39:53I went to St Moritz some years ago
0:39:53 > 0:39:56and, um, about the second day there
0:39:56 > 0:40:00it was suggested that I give a large party.
0:40:00 > 0:40:02I said, "Why?"
0:40:02 > 0:40:04"Well," he said, "you're a prominent man,
0:40:04 > 0:40:07"and prominent men, it's more or less customary
0:40:07 > 0:40:10"to give a big party in St Moritz."
0:40:10 > 0:40:16And I was told that a certain... famous millionaire,
0:40:16 > 0:40:18who happened to be there,
0:40:18 > 0:40:21that he'd just recently given a party for 80 people.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25So, before I committed myself, I went to see him.
0:40:27 > 0:40:29And I said, "Did you give this party?"
0:40:29 > 0:40:32And he said, "Yes." I said, "How many people did you have there?"
0:40:32 > 0:40:33He said, "80."
0:40:33 > 0:40:36I said, um, "How many of them were friends of yours?"
0:40:36 > 0:40:39And you know, he said, "About five."
0:40:43 > 0:40:47So I said, "You had 75 people there you'd never seen before."
0:40:47 > 0:40:49And he said, "Yes, that's right."
0:40:49 > 0:40:51LAUGHS
0:40:51 > 0:40:55So I didn't, um... I didn't see the point
0:40:55 > 0:40:59in giving a party for a lot of people that I didn't know.
0:41:01 > 0:41:04WHICKER: 'However, he has been known to entertain strangers.
0:41:04 > 0:41:07'Once a year, these orphans visit "Uncle Paul" at Sutton Place,
0:41:07 > 0:41:11'when he has more fun than he did at his house-warming.
0:41:11 > 0:41:14'though then, the expense of entertaining 1,500 guests
0:41:14 > 0:41:17'was shared by the father of a debutante.
0:41:17 > 0:41:18'For such occasional sidelines,
0:41:18 > 0:41:23'and for the mainstream of his life, for the good of a business empire
0:41:23 > 0:41:26'which weighs heavily upon him, Paul Getty exercises
0:41:26 > 0:41:28'his phenomenal concentration every day,
0:41:28 > 0:41:30'under the eyes of Renoir's demure young women.
0:41:30 > 0:41:34'For keeping fit is another serious business.
0:41:34 > 0:41:38'And not many 70-year-olds have such a way with barbells.
0:41:41 > 0:41:43'His two ageing Cadillacs are little used.
0:41:43 > 0:41:45'He measures his walks with a pedometer
0:41:45 > 0:41:47'and the temperature of his daily dips -
0:41:47 > 0:41:50'Mr Getty is a great tapper of barometers.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53'There are two pools at Sutton Place, but not even in the country,
0:41:53 > 0:41:57'where life should be straightforward not even this old Tudor mansion,
0:41:57 > 0:42:02'can escape the corporate tangle in which Mr Getty envelops himself.
0:42:02 > 0:42:04'For he doesn't even own his own home.
0:42:04 > 0:42:09'Instead, it's owned by the Sutton Place Property Company Ltd,
0:42:09 > 0:42:13'a British company which itself is owned by an American company,
0:42:13 > 0:42:17'the Pacific Western Oil Corporation, which in turn
0:42:17 > 0:42:19'is owned by the Getty Oil Company,
0:42:19 > 0:42:24'80% of which is owned, yes indeed, by Mr Getty.
0:42:24 > 0:42:28'A billionaire who could live luxuriously anywhere in the world,
0:42:28 > 0:42:30'he has disappointingly unsentimental reasons
0:42:30 > 0:42:33'for deciding to live here, among us.'
0:42:33 > 0:42:36GETTY: 'Britain is very convenient for me
0:42:36 > 0:42:40'in connection with my business in the Middle East.
0:42:40 > 0:42:44'It isn't actually in the Middle East and yet it's close to it.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47'It's much more convenient than California is.
0:42:47 > 0:42:53'Though I must confess that, um, I didn't come here for the climate.'
0:42:53 > 0:42:57WHICKER: 'So this practical American, who was at Oxford half a century ago,
0:42:57 > 0:43:01'slips comfortably into the secure tranquillity of English country life,
0:43:01 > 0:43:05'as squire of Sutton Place, one of the finest examples
0:43:05 > 0:43:08'of an unfortified Elizabethan manor house.
0:43:08 > 0:43:10'Or that's what it was.
0:43:10 > 0:43:13'Mr Getty has had a few changes made.'
0:43:15 > 0:43:17CLATTERING
0:43:19 > 0:43:21LOCKS CLICK, SHUTTERS RATTLE
0:43:21 > 0:43:24DOGS BARK
0:43:40 > 0:43:43BELLS RING
0:43:51 > 0:43:56WHICKER: If you feel more secure here then, Mr Getty, why all these, er...
0:43:56 > 0:43:59Why all these security precautions here at Sutton Place?
0:43:59 > 0:44:02The police dogs and the bars and the bodyguards?
0:44:02 > 0:44:04What is it that you're frightened of?
0:44:04 > 0:44:09Oh, I wouldn't say that I'm frightened of anything in particular.
0:44:09 > 0:44:11Just, um...
0:44:12 > 0:44:15..I suppose a necessary precaution.
0:44:15 > 0:44:16Against what?
0:44:16 > 0:44:20Well, there's no money in the house, a few works of art,
0:44:20 > 0:44:23but I don't think they'd be very saleable.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27Why then is it a necessary precaution?
0:44:27 > 0:44:30Well, there might be crackpots. There are crackpots in England.
0:44:30 > 0:44:33And what sort of thing could they do?
0:44:33 > 0:44:36Well, they could, er... What do you suppose a crackpot would do?
0:44:36 > 0:44:38He might come in, dynamite the place.
0:44:40 > 0:44:41Have you had any evidence of anything?
0:44:41 > 0:44:43No. No.
0:44:45 > 0:44:46I mean, you don't need...
0:44:46 > 0:44:49you don't need police dogs to keep away begging letters.
0:44:49 > 0:44:50No.
0:44:50 > 0:44:52No, not crackpot letters.
0:44:52 > 0:44:57But I have the police dogs mainly because I like them.
0:44:57 > 0:45:01Apart from these fears, um, of crackpots,
0:45:01 > 0:45:04do you have any other private fears?
0:45:04 > 0:45:08I'm thinking of...fire, or...
0:45:08 > 0:45:10ghosts or...
0:45:10 > 0:45:12Oh, no, I'm not afraid of ghosts.
0:45:12 > 0:45:17I think we all fear disease, old age,
0:45:17 > 0:45:18being helpless.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21Millionaires do seem to be heavily handicapped
0:45:21 > 0:45:24in their search for domestic happiness.
0:45:24 > 0:45:27Do you have much aptitude or instinct for family life?
0:45:27 > 0:45:29I like to think I'm average.
0:45:33 > 0:45:35You're not average, in as much as
0:45:35 > 0:45:38you've been married five times, Mr Getty.
0:45:39 > 0:45:43Well, maybe business had something to do with that
0:45:43 > 0:45:45because, um...
0:45:46 > 0:45:49..I think it's hard for a woman
0:45:49 > 0:45:53to feel that she's competing with a business.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56I was rather a conscientious businessman...
0:45:58 > 0:45:59..and, er...
0:46:00 > 0:46:03..the old saying "business before pleasure",
0:46:03 > 0:46:06maybe there was too much of it in my marriages.
0:46:08 > 0:46:11Certainly your spectacular success as a businessman has only be equalled
0:46:11 > 0:46:14by what seems to be your abysmal failure as a husband.
0:46:14 > 0:46:15That's right, I'm...
0:46:16 > 0:46:19..world's worst marriage.
0:46:19 > 0:46:21I see you've written,
0:46:21 > 0:46:23"I hate being a failure.
0:46:23 > 0:46:26"I hate and regret the failures of my marriages.
0:46:26 > 0:46:30"I would gladly trade my millions
0:46:30 > 0:46:33"for just one lasting marital success."
0:46:33 > 0:46:36Is this still true today?
0:46:36 > 0:46:40Well, I think so, but I don't want to get
0:46:40 > 0:46:43hundreds of letters from women who want to marry me...
0:46:44 > 0:46:46..sight unseen!
0:46:47 > 0:46:50In a society magazine the other day, you wrote
0:46:50 > 0:46:54that one of the things that made you happy was being with women,
0:46:54 > 0:46:58while one of the things that made you unhappy was women leaving you.
0:46:58 > 0:47:00- Yes. - It seems...
0:47:00 > 0:47:02Yes, I like the company of women.
0:47:02 > 0:47:04But, um...
0:47:04 > 0:47:07I think when a woman wants to leave a man, she generally leaves him.
0:47:08 > 0:47:11It does seem that you've always been fairly ruthless
0:47:11 > 0:47:13in your personal relationships.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16You've left your wives at the time of the birth of your children
0:47:16 > 0:47:20to go back to your business. Have you always put business first?
0:47:22 > 0:47:24Well, not any kind of business,
0:47:24 > 0:47:26but important business, I suppose I have...
0:47:28 > 0:47:30I'm trying to think what could be important
0:47:30 > 0:47:32because we're on such a different scale,
0:47:32 > 0:47:34we have a different scale of values here.
0:47:34 > 0:47:36What would be important enough to take you away?
0:47:36 > 0:47:40Well, when informed decisions have to be quickly made
0:47:40 > 0:47:43and, er, you have to study the...
0:47:45 > 0:47:49..the situation before making a decision.
0:47:52 > 0:47:55Would you say that you're a sentimental man, Mr Getty?
0:47:55 > 0:47:58I think so, yes.
0:47:58 > 0:47:59One of your wives has said that
0:47:59 > 0:48:02you're much afraid of showing your feelings.
0:48:02 > 0:48:05She says you've never been able to open up with men,
0:48:05 > 0:48:08or indeed have an intimate man friend.
0:48:10 > 0:48:15Oh, I think I've had a...a few, um...
0:48:16 > 0:48:18..a few good friends....
0:48:19 > 0:48:21..among men.
0:48:23 > 0:48:28One of the...closest friends I had, one of the best friends I had,
0:48:28 > 0:48:30unfortunately, um...
0:48:33 > 0:48:35..died this morning.
0:48:35 > 0:48:39I think I had a long and...
0:48:40 > 0:48:42..close friendship with him.
0:48:45 > 0:48:49She says, "Paul is the most lonely man I know.
0:48:49 > 0:48:52"He wants to meet the other person, but he can't."
0:48:56 > 0:48:59I wouldn't say that I've ever felt particularly lonely.
0:48:59 > 0:49:00I've been too busy to feel lonely.
0:49:00 > 0:49:04Like the squirrel in the cage, you, um,
0:49:04 > 0:49:07you race to stay where you are.
0:49:09 > 0:49:12In this race, what have you had to sacrifice
0:49:12 > 0:49:16to become such an immense financial success?
0:49:17 > 0:49:21Well, I suppose a lot of, er... of, er, leisure.
0:49:23 > 0:49:24Anything else?
0:49:25 > 0:49:27Oh, a lot of things I wanted to do,
0:49:27 > 0:49:31a lot of trips I would like to have made and, um...
0:49:31 > 0:49:35theatres I would like to have seen and, um...
0:49:36 > 0:49:39..walks I would like to have taken.
0:49:39 > 0:49:41Presumably you believe the old bromide
0:49:41 > 0:49:43- that money doesn't buy happiness. - Yes.
0:49:43 > 0:49:45What else do you find it can't buy?
0:49:45 > 0:49:47Well, I don't think it can buy health.
0:49:49 > 0:49:51I don't think, um...
0:49:51 > 0:49:53it, um...
0:49:55 > 0:49:57..can buy, er...
0:49:58 > 0:50:00..er, a good time.
0:50:02 > 0:50:04I think some of the best times I ever had...
0:50:06 > 0:50:08..didn't cost me any money.
0:50:09 > 0:50:11- Er... - What sort of times were they?
0:50:11 > 0:50:13Oh, down at the beach.
0:50:14 > 0:50:16On the surfboard.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20Waiting for a big breaker to come in and ride it in to shore.
0:50:22 > 0:50:24I'm not spending any money there.
0:50:25 > 0:50:27The breakers are free.
0:50:29 > 0:50:30The sunshine is free.
0:50:32 > 0:50:35How do you think your relationship with other people would change
0:50:35 > 0:50:37if, by some catastrophe, you lost all your money?
0:50:39 > 0:50:42Oh, I hope I'd, um, have, er...
0:50:43 > 0:50:45..three or four friends left.
0:50:48 > 0:50:50You seem to be a melancholy man, Mr Getty,
0:50:50 > 0:50:52a man who doesn't make friends easily.
0:50:52 > 0:50:56Your normal expression is not perhaps a very happy one.
0:50:56 > 0:50:58In fact, you often look so miserable,
0:50:58 > 0:51:02people must believe your money has not brought you much happiness.
0:51:02 > 0:51:04Well, I suppose that's, um...
0:51:06 > 0:51:09..that's the effect, I suppose, of responsibility.
0:51:09 > 0:51:11I think that, um...
0:51:12 > 0:51:17..ever since my father died and left me the responsibility of the business
0:51:17 > 0:51:22that, er, I haven't had quite the, um, er...
0:51:22 > 0:51:24buoyant, er...
0:51:25 > 0:51:29..er...feeling that I had before.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32How would you have liked to be remembered, Mr Getty?
0:51:35 > 0:51:38Well, I think I'd like to be remembered as, um...
0:51:41 > 0:51:44..one who...er...
0:51:49 > 0:51:51..succeeded in...
0:51:52 > 0:51:57..retaining the business that I inherited...inherited,
0:51:57 > 0:52:01and, um, expanding it to, um...
0:52:01 > 0:52:07a reasonable proportion. I think if my father came back today
0:52:07 > 0:52:11and asked me how the business was going,
0:52:11 > 0:52:15I'd say, "Well, it's going fairly well."
0:52:17 > 0:52:19I think it is going fairly well, Mr Getty, yes.
0:52:19 > 0:52:23How do you think that you will be remembered?
0:52:26 > 0:52:28Probably, um...
0:52:29 > 0:52:31..as a businessman.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38- Just a businessman? - I think so. Might be, um...
0:52:38 > 0:52:41a footnote in history someplace.
0:52:43 > 0:52:45So where do you go from here?
0:52:45 > 0:52:47What is left for the richest man in the world to do?
0:52:50 > 0:52:51Well...
0:52:54 > 0:52:56..just keep on with the business.
0:52:58 > 0:53:01But you must know, Mr Getty, that you can't take it with you.
0:53:01 > 0:53:02No.
0:53:02 > 0:53:04It's probably a good thing.
0:53:06 > 0:53:08It might be quite a burden.
0:53:11 > 0:53:13DOGS BARK
0:53:13 > 0:53:18WHICKER: 'From the burden of wealth, there's no release.
0:53:18 > 0:53:20'With his rare, wintry smile,
0:53:20 > 0:53:24'the richest man in the world is, perhaps fortunately for us all,
0:53:24 > 0:53:26'modest and unassuming.
0:53:26 > 0:53:30'His opinions and reactions may not always commend him to many people,
0:53:30 > 0:53:33'for the world, when so coldly contemplated,
0:53:33 > 0:53:35'seems rather a bleak place.
0:53:35 > 0:53:39'But they're not dangerous opinions. They harm no-one, and in their way,
0:53:39 > 0:53:43'they help many. For surely it's better for the non-rich
0:53:43 > 0:53:45'that the solitary billionaire
0:53:45 > 0:53:48'should care more for tankers than for luxury yachts,
0:53:48 > 0:53:51'find his pleasures in refineries, not racecourses.
0:53:51 > 0:53:55'His money, as you've seen, is most carefully spent.
0:53:56 > 0:54:01'In his remote world of employees and strangers,
0:54:01 > 0:54:06'he looks after the millions, the billions look after themselves.
0:54:06 > 0:54:10'So, there goes the richest man in the world.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13'Would you change places with him?'
0:54:13 > 0:54:17WISTFUL PIANO PLAYS
0:54:33 > 0:54:36DOG WHINES