大象传媒

In this special episode, David Yelland and Simon Lewis take you into the eye of a media storm and talk to a person who has lived through it. What鈥檚 it like to wake up to a world where everyone knows your name, and you wish they didn鈥檛?

In 1991, Gerald Ratner had one of Britain鈥檚 most famous fan-hitting moments. Having built a billion-pound chain of high-street jewellery shops, he saw his business collapse around him after making a seemingly harmless, yet ill-fated, joke.

In fact, what happened to him has become so synonymous with a fan-hitting moment that he's become a verb 鈥� in business English, 鈥淒oing a Ratner鈥� is shorthand for really screwing up in an entirely avoidable way. But, 25 years later, he says there are many silver linings to losing a billion pounds in 10 seconds flat.

Producer: Eve Streeter
Editor: Sarah Teasdale
Executive Producer: William Miller
Researcher: Sophie Smith
Music by Eclectic Sounds
A Raconteur production for 大象传媒 Radio 4