THE US: John Paul Getty II, a US oil tycoon turned Anglophile philanthropist, died yesterday, aged 70, after a chaotic life of drugs, scandal and cricket lived in the shadow of his legendary tycoon father.
Getty, who gave away millions of pounds to support his big passions of cricket and film, was admitted to the London Clinic on Monday with a recurrent chest infection.
A number of members of the Getty family procured Irish passports some years ago under the passports-for-sale scheme. Some have bought property in Ireland, including Gurtalougha House near Nenagh, Co Tipperary.
Getty lived a life that was the stuff of legend, moving from tycoon to dropout drug addict and ultimately reclusive benefactor of both sport and arts.
He harboured an abiding love of Britain and the eccentric British way of life - even building a replica of London's Oval cricket ground at his 2,500-acre Wormsley Lodge country estate in the Chiltern hills of southern England.
Getty's huge donations to the Conservative Party, the National Gallery, Lords Cricket Ground and the British Film Institute reflected his abiding passions.
Among his most famous donations were £50 million to the National Gallery, £20 million to the British Film Institute and £1 million to keep Canova's Three Graces statue in Britain.
His charitable trust, which has funds of £50 million, has a remit to support causes concerned with mental health, homelessness, criminal offenders, heritage and conservation.
"Money is like manure," he once said. "It's most effective when it's spread around widely." Getty was made an honorary Knight of the British Empire in 1986. It was converted to a full knighthood 12 years later when he adopted British nationality, renouncing his US citizenship.
Getty was one of five sons of oil tycoon John Paul Getty Sr - reputedly the richest man in the world when he died in 1976 and famed for his miserliness.
He initially joined the family business, rising rapidly to head its Italian operations before throwing in the towel to don a kaftan and become a pampered hippy in the 1960s.
His first marriage to sportswoman Gail Harris collapsed and in 1966 he married Talitha Pol, the granddaughter of the British painter, Augustus John. They both became addicted to heroin. Five years later she died of a heart attack.
In 1973 Getty's son, John Paul Getty III, was kidnapped in Italy. A ransom was paid by the boy's skinflint grandfather after his captors cut off one of his ears.
In 1995 Getty married Victoria Holdsworth, a former British model.