Scots business tycoon Duncan Bannatyne plans to donate his entire £300m fortune to charity, he said yesterday.

Bannatyne, the star of the BBC's Dragons' Den, made the pledge while in Glasgow promoting an Easterhouse charity to which he has already given £300,000.

He said: "It's my ambition to give away all my money before I die, not after. This means that £310m should be going to charity, though I hope to make that half-a-billion by the time I die."

The self-made millionaire plans to help charities around the world through his Bannatyne Foundation and is searching for worthy causes.

He said: "The foundation was established earlier this year and we're just looking for things to do. Not just projects in Great Britain, but worldwide.

"Anything that comes to us we'll take a look at and I don't want to limit myself to just doing entrepreneurial projects or anything like that."

Mr Bannatyne has a long history in the field of charity. He said Easterhouse reminded him of his own humble origins.

"It very much reminded me of my own childhood and how I was brought up. These kids are even more deprived than I was, and it shouldn't be happening now - my childhood was 50 years ago, and this should be stopped by now," he said.

He received an OBE in 2004 for his work with a Romanian orphans' hospice.

He has also featured in a number of philanthropic television programmes, including ITV's Fortune - Million Pound Giveaway, and The Rich List Give It Away.