The Paris School of Economics is hosting a really nice website on top incomes across 22 economies. The top incomes data stretches from the early twentieth century to the present day. For example, the share of total annual income going to the top 1% of earners in the UK has risen from 6% in the 1970s to close to 14% today. In other words, the income share of top earners in the UK is back to pre-WWII levels. A similar pattern exists for Ireland. You can access the database here.
Michael Aldous and I had our book The CEO: The Rise and Fall of Britain's Captains of Industry published a few weeks ago. You can find out more about it and buy it at Cambridge University Press's website . It is also available at Amazon , Waterstones , and Barnes & Noble . The CEO has already been reviewed in The Sunday Times , The Observer and Financial Times .