Last year he donated pounds 100m to a children's vaccination programme

Last year, he donated pounds 100m to a children's vaccination programme. Last year the media tycoon Ted Turner challenged other members of the Forbes 400 rich list "to loosen up their wads".Bill Gates recently gave pounds 15m to an Aids charity. Now they're letting people know."The Americans are, naturally, way ahead of the Brits when it comes to the give-and-tell approach. "In the past they [British millionaires] have always been shy to boast about their charity. In Britain, until now, such patronage has been rarer - or, at least, the attendant publicity has been."It's actually becoming a more respectable thing to do - letting people know you give to charity," observes Pat Thorne, editor of WealthWatch magazine.

Macca will perform them in a cancer research fund- raising concert at Charterhouse School in July.So, just another week in the lives of those who can give as good as they earn? Or do these acts of kindness signify a long-term sea change among the super-rich? In America there is a tradition of the seriously rich giving to good causes, mainly due to tax relief for donors to charity and for the founders of charitable foundations. This time he has commissioned eight classical composers to write songs for a new album, A Garland For Linda. Of course any list of "charidee" activities would be incomplete without Sir Paul McCartney, last week in the form of yet another tribute to his late wife. He wants to use his pilot scheme to persuade the Government to fund the top 100 independent schools in the country on the basis of merit, not wealth.Then from the admirable to the absurd: Laurance Rockefeller, one of America's richest businessmen, decided to donate an unspecified amount to an entirely British project: crop circle research. He is offering nearly pounds 1m a year to turn the fee-paying Belvedere School for girls in Toxteth, Liverpool, into an "open access" school, through his trust fund. Worth pounds 2.5bn at the last count, he has just given pounds 20m ("no strings attached") to the British Museum, a rather serious cause for someone who made millions from funny-shaped marshmallow biscuits. Close on his heels was millionaire Peter Lampl, who founded a private equity firm, Sutton Trust, investing in Europe and America.

First in the queue of philanthropists was Garry Weston, the man who brought novelty to our childhoods in the form of Wagon Wheels, and then a dietary antidote in the shape of Ryvita. Certainly something has stirred the conscience of the nation's wealthiest; causes from the worthy to the downright weird were awash with the green stuff by the middle of last week. Either that, or their accountants had offered some white-hot tips on tax-efficient trust funds. Anyone would think that our nation's filthy rich set had suffered a collective twinge of guilt last week. Older people are selling their businesses and making pots of money."Giving is also about taking control - something the rich do well. And, importantly, they don't really know what to do with their money Charity is an increasingly popular alternative "People are getting richer younger," Beresford says "Younger people feel it's cool and hip to give it away.

Today a millionaire is likely to be young and to have scaled dizzying financial heights more quickly than other generations. "The assets of charitable trusts and foundations have grown sharply in recent years, in line with the growth in wealth of those who set them up," he says.This also reflects the growth in the number of wealthy people around - more than one in every 500 people now enjoy millionaire status. Light Programme began in 1945; Third Programme in 1946.Politics: Reith put under pressure during 1926 general strike to take government line; unsuccessful fight to broadcast Parliament.HUGH CARLETON GREENEDirector-general 1960-69.Licence fee: pounds 4 in 1960; pounds 6 in 1969 with pounds 5 extra for colour.Staff: 17,000; by 1964 20,000.Size: Radio 1 started in 1967; former networks renamed 2, 3 and 4.BBC2 launched 1964; local radio begins with Radio Leicester in 1967; BBC publishes TV tie-in books.Politics: Prime Minister Harold Wilson upset by treatment in satirical programmes such as That Was The Week That Was, especially during 1966 general election campaign.SIR JOHN BIRTDirector-General designate 1991; director-general 1993-present.Licence fee: pounds 101Staff: 21,000; had peaked at 29,000 under Alasdair Milne in 1984.Size: Five national radio stations; 39 locals, plus Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; two TV channels; start of digital channels, including BBC Choice and News 24; BBC Online; commercial activities including books, videos, magazines.Politics: Panorama's `Sliding Into Slump' pulled, to be shown after general election in 1992; strong links to Labour through former LWT colleagues including Peter Mandelson.. Regional broadcasting ceased in 1939 to be replaced by the Home Service. Schedules consisted of six hours of broadcasts afternoon and evening, plus an hour-long concert in the morning. "One has to think all the time, how do we take those values and that philosophy into the modern world."THE TALE OF THREE DGs: HOW A BIG JOB GOT MUCH BIGGER OVER NEARLY 80 YEARS OF BROADCASTINGLORD REITHAppointed general manager in 1922; first director-general in 1927; resigned in 1938.Licence fee: 10 shillings.Staff: four when the BBC began in 1922; grew to 177 in a year.Size: By 1923 consisted of eight radio stations.

"The landscape in which we have to deliver the vision and purpose of the BBC has changed," says Will Wyatt. "It believes it has a God-given right to this poll tax - it should get going with its commercial activity and survive on its own."There are those who argue that the BBC is spreading its business wings to prepare itself for the inevitable loss of the licence fee. "The Government should privatise the BBC and allow it to find its place in the market," Mr Kaufman says. His committee will conduct an inquiry on future funding of the BBC in the autumn.