THE owner of Bolton-based firm AO.com has made his debut in The Sunday Times Rich List.

John Roberts created the household appliance internet retailer after a friend bet him £1 that he would not get round to setting up his own business.

AO.com was floated on the stock market in February, and was valued at nearly £1.6 billion.

A former kitchen sales manager, Mr Roberts enters the list of Britain’s 1,000 richest people in 246th place, with a personal fortune of £410 million.