Self-made Millionaire: Andreas Liveras

Andreas Liveras sold his bakery business in the mid-1980s

A British man killed during the attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai described himself as a self-made millionaire in a biography published on the internet.

Andreas Liveras, 73, was a guest at the luxury Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai which was taken over by armed men.

Mr Liveras started as a delivery driver and built his wealth through a bakery business, according to his biography.

The Cypriot-born businessman turned around the Fleur De Lys Patisseries, which he bought in the late 1960s.

'Rags to riches'

He moved the bakery firm from London to Newark in Nottinghamshire after striking a deal with Newark and Sherwood District Council.

Council leader Tony Roberts said: "Newark was going through the doldrums from an employment point of view and he came with the idea for a cake factory.

"The district council at the time voted a substantial amount of money into helping him set up the company and it was for a time extremely successful.

"He helped a huge amount."

Mr Liveras was on business when he became caught up in the violence

In his biography, Mr Liveras described his life as a "classic rags-to-riches tale".

He transformed the bakery into one of largest independent manufacturers of frozen gateaux desserts in Europe.

Mr Liveras, who had emigrated to the UK in 1963, sold the business in the mid-1980s in a multi-million pound deal and later set up a yacht charter company in Monte Carlo.

The website cited his other passion in life as flying and, as a qualified pilot, he regularly used his own aircraft.

Mr Liveras was on business in Mumbai when he became caught up in the violence.

When he spoke to the BBC on the telephone from a restaurant, he said "as soon as we sat at the table we heard the machine gun fire outside in the corridor".

He described hiding under the table and then being led to a salon in the hotel where hundreds of other guests were sheltering.

Mr Liveras was pronounced dead on arrival at St George's Hospital in the city at 9.30pm local time on Wednesday, a spokesman for the hospital said.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk