Yesterday I donned a hard hat in order to have a first look at White Cube Bermondsey, Jay Jopling's newest outpost for his apparently ever-expanding empire of galleries.

Mario Batali, the culinary spirit behind Babbo and an ever-expanding empire of Italian (and, more recently, Mediterranean) restaurants, is an indulgent ruler.

J & R Music World and Computer World, an ever-expanding retail empire along Park Row, is planning a new building at the corner of Ann Street.

Interspersed here and there were the colorful gowns of the older women and chaperons, accentuated by the scarlet, blue, green, and gold slashes of the military uniforms of the various regiments from countries throughout Europe and the ever-expanding empire.

Long live the prolific Lil Jon and his ever-expanding empire.

Their ever-expanding local empire includes shops for kids, luxury and shoes.

Bouley shares more with a workaholic entrepreneur like Wolfgang Puck, whose ever-expanding empire of restaurants, cafes and frozen pizzas reveals a chef with similar ambitions.

The ever-expanding global empire of the celebrity chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa grew a bit bigger this past week with the introduction of his new line of bone china dinnerware.

They will be warmly received by this ever-expanding European empire.

One growing complaint was that the huge volume of animal waste - especially the euphemistically named "litter" from chicken houses, much of it generated by Tyson's ever-expanding empire - was seriously polluting Arkansas's crystalline rivers and streams.