Martin Vander Weyer is Helmsley's very own renaissance man. An accomplished writer, actor and after-dinner speaker, he manages to combine the challenging roles of Business Editor of the Spectator magazine and Director of Helmsley Arts Centre with consummate ease.
He has also found time to edit this fascinating collection of business obituaries from the Daily Telegraph.
On the surface, this might seem a rather dry subject, but the Telegraph template for the business obit, devised by Hugh Massingberd and by Martin himself, ensures it is anything but.
Take, for example, Edouard Stern, the banker murdered in a sado-masochistic ritual. Stern, who appears in the entertaining Mavericks, Monsters and Rogues section of the book, was found dead in his Geneva apartment having been shot wearing a flesh-coloured latex suit. His hobby, apparently, was collecting guns.
Or Martin Lampard, the lawyer who resorted to "vulgar abuse".
He even included his clients in his tirades.
When one accused him of being gratuitously rude, he replied - quick as a flash - "I can assure you this is not gratuitous. It is very expensive". Lampard, however, was one of the most successful City lawyers of his generation.
A number of famous names feature in these delightful pages including Lord Hanson, Sir Freddie Laker, Lord Matthews and Tiny "the unacceptable face of capitalism" Rowland.
My favourite story concerns the Gordon's Gin salesman Johnny Holbech, who declared: "There are only three elements in life: Oxygen, nitrogen and Gordon's".
Such commitment to his product is highly commendable and, for me at least, completely understandable. But it is invidious really to pick out one obituary. They are all a joy to read.
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