'I'm a billionaire - but I'm still wearing £29 Zara jeans'

Despite living in the UK's most expensive home and owning a luxury yacht and vintage cars, one British billionaire says he hates splurging his money. He might be known for his his flashy wardrobe of glittery jackets, the 71-year-old says he prefers to shop on the high street for staples, with one pair of jeans costing him just £29 from Zara.

Caudwell's frugality may be a nod to his humble beginnings in Wellesley Street, Shelton, before moving to the Bentilee council estate. From there, he built a business empire and is now worth around £1.5 billion.

In an interview with the iPaper, the former Berry Hill High School student described himself as both 'flashy' and 'frugal'. He said: "Out of the public eye you won't see me in one of the glitzy jackets I'm known for. They're just for the charity dinners. At home I'll be in £29 Zara jeans and a shirt."

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The Phones 4U mogul also revealed his greatest extravagance was a £1.8 million helicopter he bought in 2009, along with his yacht named Titania. He said: "That sounds a lot, but when you're a billionaire it's not really. At the time I needed it to travel around the country quickly, but I don't need it anymore, so now it is an indulgence."

This lifestyle is a far cry from his first home on the outskirts of Stoke-on-Trent, which had no furniture or gas, reports Lancs Live.

John Caudwell, the billionaire founder of Phones4U, has emerged as a self-made man, starting from humble beginnings. He said: "We sat on orange boxes, borrowed a stove from my mother's caravan and cooked bean on toast on that until we eventually got out of the poverty trap. But I didn't see it as a struggle. It was just where we were at that point."

Remarkably, John Caudwell can now claim to own what could be the UK's costliest mega mansion located in London's prestigious Mayfair district, valued at an astonishing £250 million. John spent £65 million alongside four years to revamp a property nestled within one of the globes most sought-after addresses.

John also splashed the cash when he forked out a hefty £87 million to clinch Ancaster House, along with the neighbouring property from Prince Jefri Bolkiah, who happens to be the brother of the Sultan of Brunei. He then merged them into a single sprawling 43,000 square-foot property roughly the size of Westminster Cathedral or equivalent to 55 average London flats - prior to initiating the revamp.

The colossal wealth that affords such extravagance was accumulated through a well-timed investment in mobile phones during the 1980s. Together with his brother Brian, John registered Midland Mobile Phones as a wholesaler of mobile phones in 1987, snapping up a modest batch of 26 Motorola mobiles for the princely sum of £1,350 each.

Selling all these devices took eight long months, each eventually going to a mix of plumbers, taxi drivers, and TV repairmen at a price tag of £2,000 per phone. The business, however, continued to operate at a loss for its initial couple of years.

Then came a significant windfall in 2003 when he offloaded Singlepoint to Vodafone to the tune of £405m. A further massive payday followed three years hence when the entirety of the business was sold for a staggering £1.46 billion to private equity heavyweights Providence Equity Partners and Doughty Hanson.

He now admits that his financial weakness is charity, having once splashed out £800,000 for a three-day trip to South Africa with Elton John and David Furnish to see their charitable work.