On this day in 2008, Mr Saeed Abdul Gaffer Khouri caused a sensation when paying a world record $14.3 million (around £7.5 million) for a single number plate.

The plate - simply made up of the digit ‘1’ - was widely expected to beat the existing world record ($6.8 million) set only months earlier for the single digit ‘5’ but nobody anticipated the final sum involved.

The winning bidder, a UAE businessman, reportedly never batted an eyelid during the auction and coolly conceded afterwards that he would have willingly “paid double” for the prized plate.

“It’s not huge compared to my family’s fortune,” he said. “The price is fair. After all, who doesn’t want to be number one?"

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