With a modelling career going rather well, Lily Cole did what few teenage girls would do and worked hard for her A-levels.

With straight As and an offer to study Social and Political Sciences at Cambridge, she had a long, hard think... And for some reason she thought appearing in Girls Aloud videos, modelling for Tiffany and acting in the Terry Gilliam films would be more fun.

It pays well too - she made the Sunday Times Rich List in 2007 with an estimated net worth of £6 million - and counting.