Arnold Palmer and television were a perfect match. His ascendancy to the top of the golf game came at the same time that people were buying home televisions for the first time and were able to watch sports. Palmer's charismatic showmanship was perfect for the new medium and made him a star. Before long he'd been nicknamed 'The King'.
Possibly golf's first real megastar, Palmer's career lasted for over six decades and yielded 62 PGA Tour titles between 1955 and 1973. He was an inaugural entrant to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974. After retirement, he made most of his money designing golf courses, co-creating the Golf Channel, and, bizarrely, licensing his name to the Arnold Palmer line of beverages. That strange iced tea and lemonade drink you can buy in stores was invented by the man himself.
To insure one’s house, one’s car or to underwrite a life insurance policy, that is common practice. But who would pay an insurance premium for his/her thumb, legs or smile? Stars, of course.
At the top of the ranking are the legs of Mariah Carey, worth 810 million USD: The diva became, in 2006, the Gillette brand muse for the advertising campaign «Legs of a Goddess». She then took out an insurance policy with London Lloyds to protect her legs, a decision that is far from being insignificant. Among its customers, the London insurer then included several icons of music, such as Bob Dylan or Rod Stewart.
David Beckham’s body insured for 195 million USD: European champion with Manchester United in 1999, David Beckham was in 2006 the most renowned footballer of the planet. In relation to his sporting activities, he took out an insurance cover for his legs. The huge amount paid for his insurance would reportedly exceed the 103 million USD disbursed by Real Madrid for the cover of Christiano Ronaldo in 2009. The fashion model would later extend his insurance cover to his entire body.
15 million USD in insurance for Kim Kardashian’s curves: The curves of Kim Kardashian are her number one beauty asset. The reality TV star, who is crazy about plastic surgery, has underwritten an insurance policy worth 15 million USD to protect her famous butt.
The culinary critic Egon Ronay assured his taste buds: The famous Hungarian culinary critic has insured his taste buds since 1957, for the amount of 400 000 USD. An original insurance policy which allows him to cover his sense of taste without which he will no longer be able to practice his job.