Lord Sainsbury, the former government minister and supermarket business owner, has become the first Briton to give £1 billion to charity. The Gatsby Charitable Foundation, which he established in 1967, has made grants of £660 million to support scientific research, the arts and mental health, together with projects in East Africa, and according to The Times ‘has allocated a further £465 million for good causes, which is in the foundation awaiting distribution’.