Latest Journalist memories Podcast Episodes
Robert Sangster - First past the Post
John Swinfield's Big Business - December 22, 2021 07:00 - 14 minutesROBERT 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. It’s a business clos...
Ed Acker of Pan Am: Triumphs and Tragedies
John Swinfield's Big Business - December 15, 2021 07:00 - 15 minutesSYNOPSIS 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 Carolin...
Red Letter - Into the Red - How a gift company fell to earth
John Swinfield's Big Business - December 08, 2021 07:00 - 13 minutesSYNOPSIS 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 smal...
HEAVENS ABOVE: Sir Freddie Laker’s low fares and cheap travel.
John Swinfield's Big Business - December 01, 2021 07:00 - 14 minutesHEAVENS ABOVE: Sir Freddie Laker’s 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 ...
MARKS & SPENCER: M&S Weathering the storm
John Swinfield's Big Business - November 24, 2021 07:00 - 19 minutesMARKS & SPENCER: Weathering the storm Britain’s 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 it’s had a difficult time but new financial figures are encouraging. ...
STRICTLY DELFONT: The impresario Lord Delfont.
John Swinfield's Big Business - November 17, 2021 07:00 - 16 minutesSTRICTLY DELFONT: The impresario Lord Delfont. Lord Bernard Delfont began as a dancer and rose to the top of the entertainment industry. A powerhouse in London’s theatre land and New York’s Broadway he was part of a media and entertainment dynasty and worked with myriad superstars from Frank Si...
PARTY TIME: Clive Sinclair and Jeffrey Archer
John Swinfield's Big Business - November 10, 2021 07:00 - 15 minutesPARTY 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 Cambrid...
Profits to Popeye - Granada Tv and the Disney Empire
John Swinfield's Big Business - November 03, 2021 07:00 - 17 minutesPROFITS TO POPEYE The world’s biggest mouse house and why Gerry Robinson of Granada TV chose profit over priesthood. Robinson ran Britain’s Granada company. It triggered a takeover battle which changed the face of British TV and enraged the comedian John Cleese of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. ...
Big Bucks and Bold Breakthroughs - Autonomy
John Swinfield's Big Business - October 27, 2021 07:00 - 12 minutesBig Bucks and Bold Breakthroughs Hi-tech is hi-risk. It’s built into the DNA. People and companies make fortunes, others fall by the wayside. In some the science is strong. In others it’s flaky. Deals can be imperilled by myriad factors - not just the purity or effectiveness of the science. J...
Little Big Man: Lord Forte global hotelier
John Swinfield's Big Business - October 20, 2021 07:00 - 20 minutesFORTE 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 City’s most ferocious takeover battles. John Swinfield knew Forte, and his son Rocco, who has built his o...
Chips with Everything - Arm Silicon Chips
John Swinfield's Big Business - October 13, 2021 06:00 - 19 minutesSILICON 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 – Advanced Risc Machines - in an 18th century barn in the Cambridgeshi...
New York
John Swinfield's Big Business - October 06, 2021 06:00 - 14 minutesNew York is one of John Swinfield’s favourite cities. He’s 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 draw...
Show Business - Pete Waterman, of pop music fame.
John Swinfield's Big Business - September 29, 2021 06:00 - 14 minutesThat’s 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 ‘The Boss’. Among his guests were Pe...
Mobile Phones - John Caudwell and Charles Dunstone of Carphone Warehouse and TalkTalk
John Swinfield's Big Business - September 22, 2021 07:00 - 18 minutesJohn 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 it’s a tough sector and there have been casualties as well.
Minding the shop: Tesco and Sir Leslie Porter
John Swinfield's Big Business - September 15, 2021 07:00 - 19 minutesMinding the shop: Tesco Secrets of the retail trade with Britain’s biggest shopkeeper. Sir Leslie Porter was the boss of Tesco – Britain’s 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 Lon...
Gloria Vanderbilt - The heiress Gloria Vanderbilt was an actress, novelist and painter.
John Swinfield's Big Business - September 08, 2021 07:00 - 19 minutesGloria Vanderbilt: The Vanderbilt’s were one of the legendary families with the Rockefeller’s, 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 textil...
Lotus goes Italian!
John Swinfield's Big Business - September 01, 2021 10:00 - 18 minutesAfter 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 it’s controlled by Geely cars of China. During his owners...
Cars, Turkeys and Double Glazing
John Swinfield's Big Business - August 25, 2021 10:00 - 18 minutesThree 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 – Bernard Matthews had a turkey business and Colin Chapman created Lotus cars which dominated Grand Prix motor racing.
Regine's and Playboy Club
John Swinfield's Big Business - August 18, 2021 10:00 - 16 minutesIn 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.
Robert Maxwell Part 2. Follow John Swinfield's Big Business Podcast
John Swinfield's Big Business - August 11, 2021 10:00 - 19 minutesThis is the second part of Robert Maxwell. Please subscribe to keep informed of the latest stories and we hope you enjoy this episode.
Robert Maxwell: Trying to pin down an International fraudster.
John Swinfield's Big Business - August 04, 2021 10:00 - 20 minutesDocumentary 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.
Introduction to Big Business with John Swinfield
John Swinfield's Big Business - August 02, 2021 19:00 - 5 minutesIntroduction 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 tha...
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