Welcome to Big Business. Business stories and anecdotes from a leading financial Journalist. Iāve spent much of my life writing and making films about business bosses. This Podās gossipy, irreverent, informative and fun. Big business is on every week at 11am (GMT) on Wednesdays. If you like the feed .. please donāt forget to click the subscriber button to follow all new content.
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ROBERT SANGSTER: First past the Post The bloodstock business is a multi-billion dollar industry employing thousands of people around the globe. John Swinfield made a TV documentary about Robert Sangster who was an axial figure in the rarefied and risky bank-balance stakes. Itās a business closely linked to the lucrative and exploitative gambling inā¦
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Ed Acker of Pan Am: Triumphs and Tragedies
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SYNOPSIS ED ACKER of Pan Am: Triumphs and Tragedies Flying taxis, private space shots, aircraft powered by electricity, solar and even hydrogen. Aviation has witnessed swift and tumultuous developments from the heady days of the intrepid Wright brothers taking to the skies over North Carolina at the dawn of the 20th century. As Covid and its variatā¦
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Red Letter - Into the Red - How a gift company fell to earth
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SYNOPSIS INTO THE RED: how a gift company fell to earth A high number of different businesses have gone bust lately, many being the victims of Covid. But life in business has always been precarious with more stories of calamity than success. Way before the pandemic Red Letter Days was a small British company which took off but subsequently failed. ā¦
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HEAVENS ABOVE: Sir Freddie Lakerās low fares and cheap travel.
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HEAVENS ABOVE: Sir Freddie Lakerās low fares and cheap travel. In the capricious airline business low cost fliers battle it out. The Hungarian based Wizz Air has collared a chunk of the market and is widely thought to have put in a so-far unsuccessful bid for easyJet. The Irish Ryanair, run by the ebullient Michael OāLeary, is planning to quit the ā¦
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MARKS & SPENCER: M&S Weathering the storm
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MARKS & SPENCER: Weathering the storm Britainās ubiquitous Marks & Spencer (M&S) with over a 1,000 shops and 78000 workers began as a market stall in the Yorkshire city of Leeds in 1884. Like other familiar high street names itās had a difficult time but new financial figures are encouraging. John Swinfield has known the company for decades. He recā¦
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STRICTLY DELFONT: The impresario Lord Delfont.
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16:52
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STRICTLY DELFONT: The impresario Lord Delfont. Lord Bernard Delfont began as a dancer and rose to the top of the entertainment industry. A powerhouse in Londonās theatre land and New Yorkās Broadway he was part of a media and entertainment dynasty and worked with myriad superstars from Frank Sinatra to Judy Garland. His brothers were Lew and Leslieā¦
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PARTY TIME: Clive Sinclair and Jeffrey Archer
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PARTY TIME: Clive Sinclair and Jeffrey Archer Legendary inventor and computer genius Sir Clive Sinclair was a friend of many years standing of John Swinfield. They met up again at a party given by the Tory peer and novelist Jeffrey Archer and his wife Mary at their Grantchester home in Cambridge. John recalls a colourful cast including Lord Archer,ā¦
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Profits to Popeye - Granada Tv and the Disney Empire
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PROFITS TO POPEYE The worldās biggest mouse house and why Gerry Robinson of Granada TV chose profit over priesthood. Robinson ran Britainās Granada company. It triggered a takeover battle which changed the face of British TV and enraged the comedian John Cleese of Monty Pythonās Flying Circus. In America, John Swinfield made a TV documentary about ā¦
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Big Bucks and Bold Breakthroughs - Autonomy
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Big Bucks and Bold Breakthroughs Hi-tech is hi-risk. Itās built into the DNA. People and companies make fortunes, others fall by the wayside. In some the science is strong. In others itās flaky. Deals can be imperilled by myriad factors - not just the purity or effectiveness of the science. John Swinfield looks at the roller-coaster world of earth-ā¦
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Little Big Man: Lord Forte global hotelier
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FORTE Little Big Man: Lord Forte The legendary Charles Forte built a hotel and catering empire which straddled the globe, only to see it snatched away in his twilight years in one of the Cityās most ferocious takeover battles. John Swinfield knew Forte, and his son Rocco, who has built his own portfolio of exclusive hotels. John Swinfieldās essay, ā¦
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Chips with Everything - Arm Silicon Chips
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SILICON FEN: CHIPS with EVERYTHING The Cambridge hi-tech phenomena has produced myriad outstanding companies, scientists and engineers. A dozen engineers broke away from the once-legendary Acorn computers and started ARM ā Advanced Risc Machines - in an 18th century barn in the Cambridgeshire village of Swaffham Bulbeck. Today itās a global player ā¦
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New York is one of John Swinfieldās favourite cities. Heās always admired its insomniac energy and insatiable drive. But it was a violent and dangerous place when he first visited, spiralling into a vortex of murder and narcotics. Financially it was on its knees, with City Hall at daggers drawn with the unyielding trade union boss Victor Gotbaum. Gā¦
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Show Business - Pete Waterman, of pop music fame.
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Thatās Showbiz As well as making TV documentaries about business leaders for Enterprise (ITV/C4), having previously been a reporter with The Money programme (BBC2), John Swinfield made 26 half-hour interview programmes for London News Radio which he called āThe Bossā. Among his guests were Pete Waterman, of pop music fame, and Christopher Bland andā¦
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Mobile Phones - John Caudwell and Charles Dunstone of Carphone Warehouse and TalkTalk
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John Caudwell of Phones4U and Charles Dunstone of Carphone Warehouse and TalkTalk have made a fortune out of the explosion in mobile phones and telecommunications. But itās a tough sector and there have been casualties as well.By John Swinfield
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Minding the shop: Tesco and Sir Leslie Porter
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Minding the shop: Tesco Secrets of the retail trade with Britainās biggest shopkeeper. Sir Leslie Porter was the boss of Tesco ā Britainās largest supermarket chain. He was the son-in-law of Jack Cohen, the inventor of supermarkets and the founder of Tesco who started with a market stall in Londonās east end. Cohenās slogan was āPile it High and Seā¦
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Gloria Vanderbilt - The heiress Gloria Vanderbilt was an actress, novelist and painter.
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Gloria Vanderbilt: The Vanderbiltās were one of the legendary families with the Rockefellerās, Henry Ford, JP Morgan and Andrew Carnegie, who built America. The heiress Gloria Vanderbilt was an actress, novelist and painter. An entrepreneur and business woman, she was also famous for her textiles, designs and the best-selling Vanderbilt jeans. Marrā¦
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After the death of motor racing legend Colin Chapman, his Lotus car company was bought by Italian car boss Romano Artiolli, who had previously resuscitated fabled Bugatti cars. Artiolli later sold Lotus to Proton cars of Malaysia. Today itās controlled by Geely cars of China. During his ownership of Lotus Artiolli met with the boss of Ford Cars, a ā¦
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Three industrialists who began with nothing and built empires were all friends and lived near each other in the East of England. George Williams built a window company ā Bernard Matthews had a turkey business and Colin Chapman created Lotus cars which dominated Grand Prix motor racing.By John Swinfield
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In this podcast John Swinfield tells the story of a 30 minute film he was making about international nightclub owner Regina and the Playboy club. Please do subscribe to this podcast to listen to weekly podcasts.By John Swinfield
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Robert Maxwell Part 2. Follow John Swinfield's Big Business Podcast
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This is the second part of Robert Maxwell. Please subscribe to keep informed of the latest stories and we hope you enjoy this episode.By John Swinfield
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Robert Maxwell: Trying to pin down an International fraudster.
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Documentary film maker and journalist John Swinfield tries to get to grips with the business tycoon and international fraudster Robert Maxwell. Making a one hour TV movie about the manipulative Maxwell proved an elusive and at times hilarious endeavour.By John Swinfield
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Introduction to Big Business with John Swinfield
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5:48
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Introduction to the Big Business Podcast with John Swinfield. More episodes within the series will follow every Wednesday at 11am (GMT). Next episode is a two part series on the legendary tycoon businessman Robert Maxwell when John was interviewing and filming him for a one hour documentary that aired on Channel 4 and the international television nā¦
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