What is allure? How do men get it? Is it Brad Pitt in a leather skirt? Power wielded by a captain of industry? Or is it simply hard cash?

Think about it. Maybe the fact that you may not be stinking rich keeps you not only humble, but credible. Some men do odd things when they’re rich. Very odd. In fact, they go completely off their nickel-plated rails.

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So, to make you feel better if you think you don't have enough cash to turn girls' heads, read what happened to men who had too much.

Try Damon Dash, a man who made his millions producing rap artists on the Roc-A-Fella label, who’s branched into making money – big money – with his own clothing line and vodka brand.

Once is enough
His personal wealth is estimated at more than $100 million. He apparently only wears something once, whether it’s a Savile Row suit or a pair of Nike trainers. Presumably this conspicuous consumerism enables him to pay for his own landfill, or maybe all those once-worn clothes go to a good cause.

He has a portable humidor for his cigars and slugs French champagne as others drink mineral water. But he’s certainly not the oddest rich person to have lived.

Hughes the weirdest of them all?
That honour may go to Howard Hughes, who started out sane enough, but went off the rails a bit. He was obsessed with germs and toward the end of his life was carried everywhere on a stretcher.

His talent was undeniable: he designed and flew – once – the Spruce Goose, which is still the largest aircraft ever built. It’s 50 percent longer than a Boeing 747.

A playboy, entrepreneur, real estate magnate and movie mogul, Hughes became ever more paranoid despite his Midas touch. This may have been triggered partly by his addiction to morphine, following a plane crash that nearly killed him. He moved around at night, fearful of being seen. His employees were forced to wear gloves and he refused to touch anything that hadn’t been handed to him held in tissues.

When he died, he was unrecognisable as the man the world had known and was identifiable only by his fingerprints.

So, who was it that said the difference between eccentricity and insanity is how much money you have?

David Beckham’s become an icon and is now perhaps the world’s most recognised face. The UK edition of GQ magazine voted him the best-dressed man in Britain for 2003 and the best-dressed man in Britain of all time. In the latter category he somehow got more votes than such style icons as Sean Connery, David Bowie, Dirk Bogarde, Carey Grant and Bryan Ferry.

Perhaps if the original 007 had turned out in a sarong and a mohican every now and then he’d have been higher on the list. Or maybe people just have short memories.

If it’s any consolation to Connery, British Prime Minister Tony Blair is off GQ’s well-dressed list – their comment? “Somebody sex this man up!” (William Smook)

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