The Centre for Financial History is delighted to work with the Worshipful Company of International Bankers to present these oral histories of the Secondary Banking Crisis 1973-75 (the ‘Lifeboat’) and Old City, New City (1979-86). The interviews with key participants were conducted by John Thirlwell, Gerald Ashley and Martin Zetter. You may need to be logged into a Google account to access the recordings.
The Secondary Banking Crisis, 1973-75 (‘the Lifeboat’)
Roger Barnes, Secretary – Bank of England Lifeboat Committee
Roger Barnes – Part One audio (interviewers: John Thirlwell and Gerald Ashley, 28 September 2015)
Roger Barnes – Part Two audio (interviewers: John Thirlwell and Gerald Ashley, 16 December 2015)
Transcript of interviews with Roger Barnes (28 September 2015 and 16 December 2015)
Christopher Fildes, financial journalist
Transcript of interview with Christopher Fildes (John Thirlwell and Gerald Ashley, 27 May 2015)
Audio of interview with Christopher Fildes
Alex Rottenburg, Union Discount
Transcript of interview with Alex Rottenburg (John Thirlwell and Gerald Ashley,11 May 2017)
Audio of interview with Alex Rottenburg
Sir Dick Lloyd, CEO – Williams and Glyn’s
Transcript of interview with Sir Dick Lloyd (Richard Collins and John Thirlwell, 27 April 2016)
Audio of interview with Sir Dick Lloyd
Bob Wickham, Bank of Scotland
Transcript of interviews with Bob Wickham (John Thirlwell and Gerald Ashley, 26 October 2016)
Audio of interview with Bob Wickham
Sir Martin Jacomb, Chairman – Barclays de Zoete Wedd
Transcript of interview with Sir Martin Jacomb (John Thirlwell and Gerald Ashley, 26 January 2017)
Andrew Buxton, CEO – Barclays
Transcript of interviews with Andrew Buxton (Gerald Ashley and Martin Zetter, 3 July 2024)
Audio of interview with Andrew Buxton
Old City, New City: the run-up to Big Bang (1979-86)
Christopher Fildes, financial journalist
Second audio interview with Christopher Fildes
David Buik, money broker
Transcript of interview with David Buik (John Thirlwell and Gerald Ashley,14 August 2018)
Audio of interview with David Buik
David Buik’s final Weekly Fayre column (13 December 2021)
Tom Newman, headed Croker National London Branch
Transcript of interview with Tom Newman (John Thirlwell and Gerald Ashley, 13 March 2019)
Audio of interview with Tom Newman
William de Gelsey, Orion Bank
Transcript of interview with William de Gelsey (John Thirlwell and Gerald Ashley, 13 March 2019)
David Kynaston, historian
Transcript of interview with David Kynaston (John Thirlwell and Gerald Ashley, 24 April 2019)
Audio of interview with David Kynaston
Sir Roger Gifford (SG Warburg and SEB)
Transcript of interview with Sir Roger Gifford (John Thirlwell and Gerald Ashley, 26 April 2019)
Audio of interview with Sir Roger Gifford
Brian Winterflood, Jobber
Transcript of interview with Brian Winterflood (John Thirlwell and Gerald Ashley, 9 May 2019)
Audio of interview with Brian Winterflood
Rupert Hambro, banker
Transcript of interview with Rupert Hambro (John Thirlwell, 11 December 2019)
Audio of interview with Rupert Hambro
David Potter, CEO – Guinness Mahon
Transcript of interview with David Potter (John Thirlwell and Gerald Ashley, 19 November 2019)
Audio of interview with David Potter
Sir Willie Purves, Chairman and CEO – HSBC Holdings
Transcript of interview with Sir Willie Purves (John Thirlwell and Gerald Ashley, 4 December 2019)
Audio of interview with Sir Willie Purves
Oscar Lewisohn, Deputy Chairman – SG Warburg
First audio interview with Oscar Lewisohn (14 December 2018)
Second audio interview with Oscar Lewisohn (17 February 2019)
Martin Vander Weyer, Barclays and financial journalist
Transcript of interview with Martin Vander Weyer (Gerald Ashley and Martin Zetter, 22 February 2022)
Audio of interview with Martin Vander Weyer
Sir David Clementi, Chairman – Kleinwort Benson
Transcript of interview with Sir David Clementi (Gerald Ashley and Martin Zetter, 13 February 2024)
Audio of interview with Sir David Clementi
John Garbutt, Investment Director – HSBC
Transcript of interview with John Garbutt (Gerald Ashley and Martin Zetter, 22 August 2023)
Audio of interview with John Garbutt
John Bennett
Transcript of interview with John Bennett (Gerald Ashley and Martin Zetter, 10 October 2023)
Audio of interview with John Bennett
Simon Wheatley, Compliance Director – ING London
Transcript of interview with Simon Wheatley (Gerald Ashley and Martin Zetter, 15 November 2023)
Audio of interview with Simon Wheatley
Ian Peacock, Kleinwort
Transcript of interview with Ian Peacock (Gerald Ashley and Martin Zetter, 19 August 2024)
Audio of interview with Ian Peacock
Chris O’Malley, Head of Eurobonds – Samuel Montagu
Transcript of interview with Chris O’Malley (Gerald Ashley and Martin Zetter, 21 January 2025)
Audio of interview with Chris O’Malley
Steven Pinnner
Transcript of interview with Steven Pinner (Gerald Ashley and Martin Zetter, 15 April 2025)
Audio of interview with Steven Pinner
Jon Norton, Director of Structured Finance – Crestline London
Transcript of interview with Jon Norton (Gerald Ashley and Martin Zetter, 7 May 2025)
Audio of interview with Jon Norton
Bob White, former Head of Compliance at Credit Suisse Asset Management, TSB Group, and Jardine Matheson Group
Transcript of interview with Bob White (Gerald Ashley and Martin Zetter, 26 March 2025)
Audio of interview with Bob White
Chris Bromby, former broker on the Liverpool Stock Exchange, Kleinwort Benson and Grieveson Grant
Transcript of interview with Chris Bromby (Gerald Ashley and Martin Zetter, 26 November 2025)
Audio of interview with Chris Bromby
The views and opinions expressed are those of the interviewees alone and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Centre for Financial History or the Worshipful Company of International Bankers.