In 1967, Sir David Khalili finished his military service in Iran and travelled to study in the United States with $750 – his remaining royalties from a book he wrote when he was just 14. Over the course of the next five decades he single-handedly, piece by piece, assembled eight of the finest art collections in their field, ultimately becoming one of the world’s greatest collectors, about whom Queen Elizabeth Il once said: ‘It is scary how much this gentleman knows about art.’