Brian Bollen's Blog

Blue Blood, Cazenove in the Age of Global Banking

Title: Blue Blood, Cazenove in the Age of Global Banking

Author: Robert Pickering                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Publisher: Robert Pickering in partnership with whitefox publishing

Pages: 369

Price: £24.99

Format: Paperback

Published: February 23 2023

ISBN: 9781915036902; ebook 9781915036919

What do Blue Blood and Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year have in common? One, they both prominently cite Tokenhouse Yard as a location, in Blue Blood's case in the very first sentence of the very first chapter. And two, they cover events with an emphasis on London that seem to be buried in the past but resonate strongly with at least some current readers.

When reading the Defoe tome, thoughts of the hysterical global reaction to Covid-19 are constantly to the forefront of the reader's mind. When reading Pickering's, recollections immediately present themselves of a bygone age before the City of London's so-called Big Bang in October 1986.

Polished mahogany doors, liveried porters in carpeted entrance halls, double-breasted waistcoats and Grenadier Guards cufflinks. Those, at least for some, were the days.

 

 

It was 30 years ago today

It was 30 years ago today.

No, not that Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play, but 30 years since I left the Financial Times building for the last time as a full-time staffer and went freelance. It's been three decades of ups and downs, but I've never regretted it for a minute. Standard office life was never for me.

Here's to the next 30!