The Mayfair Set, subtitled Four Stories about the Rise of Business and the Decline of Political Power, is a BBC television documentary series by filmmaker Adam Curtis. It looks at Britain's decline as a world power, the invention of asset stripping in the 1970s, and how buccaneer capitalists shaped the climate of the Thatcher years, focusing on the rise of Colonel David Stirling, Jim Slater, Sir James Goldsmith and Tiny Rowland—members of London's elite Clermont Club in the 1960s. It won a BAFTA Award for Best Factual Series or Strand in 2000.
The opening episode focuses on Colonel David Stirling and the birth of the global arms trade in the 1960s.
Originally broadcast on 18 July 1999.
Duke of Richmond and Gordon, friend of David Stirling
John Aspinall (filmed 1971)
Maj. Bernard Mills, ex-SAS; commander in Yemen Operation
Colin Campbell, friend and business partner of David Stirling
Said Aburish, Arab historian
Col. Johnny Cooper, ex-SAS; commander in Yemen Operation
Lord Healey, Minister of Defence 1964–70; Chancellor of the Exchequer 1974–79
Geoffrey Edwards (archive)
Lord Caldecote, Director, English Electric 1953–69
Sheikh Ahmed Yamani, Saudi Energy Minister (interviewed 1974)
Victor Lownes, Head of British Playboy 1966–81
Marilyn Cole, receptionist at Clermont Club 1974–77
Mayfair resident (filmed 1974)
Col. David Stirling (filmed 1974)
Kate Losinska, Head of Civil and Public Services Association 1979–82
Dr Mohammed Abu Shadi, Head of Arab Investment Bank (filmed 1976)
Ronald Ellis, Head of Ministry of Defence Arms Sales (filmed 1977)
The rise of accountant, game theorist and asset stripper Jim Slater, who became famous for writing an investment column in The Sunday Telegraph under the nom de plume of The Capitalist.
Originally broadcast on 25 July 1999.
Sir Anthony Grant, Conservative MP 1964–97
Jim Slater
Malcolm Horsman, Executive, Slater Walker 1965–71
Andrew Coote, Manager, Cork Manufacturing 1965; son of Colonel Coote
Christopher Fildes, financial journalist since 1963
Una Mary Parker, Mayfair socialite, 1960s
John Aspinall
Brian Basham, financial journalist, 1960s
Eric Armitage, Chief Accountant, Lonrho 1969–72
Tiny Rowland (interviewed 1973)
Col. A. J. Aylmer, nephew of General Spears
Dr Mathias Mpande, Deputy Minister of Mines, Zambia
Terry Smith, City analyst
John Bentley, Head of Slater Walker satellite 1970–75 (archive)
James Goldsmith (archive)
Maj. Colin MacKenzie, member of Lonrho board 1961–73
Douglas Hurd, political secretary to Edward Heath 1968–75
Capt. Bill Wilming, Tiny Rowland's pilot 1968–91
This episode tells the story of how Sir James Goldsmith, through a series of corporate raids, became one of the world's richest men, and a victim of his own success.
Originally broadcast on 1 August 1999.
G. Christian Andersen, banker at Drexel Burnham Lambert 1978–89
Steve Wynn, Chief Executive, The Golden Nugget
Tim Metz, financial journalist, Wall Street Journal 1966–89
Prof. J. K. Galbraith, economist
Ian Wilsdon, Executive, Crown-Zellerbach 1975–84
Scott Weldon, Executive, Crown-Zellerbach 1978–85
Don Engel, banker at Drexel Burnham Lambert, 1981–90
Al Dunlap
Tom Peters, management theorist (speaking 1986)
Gordon Binns, Head of Pension Fund, General Motors 1982–94
Ira Milstein, lawyer representing pension funds
Lord Spens, merchant banker, 1980s
Charles Woodward, Chief Executive of Pension Fund, British Airways 1984–91
Nick Fitzpatrick, Head of Pension Fund, British Rail 1976–86
Clive Gilchrist, Deputy Director of Pension Fund, Post Office 1978–87
Brian Crozier, private counter-intelligence operation
Roland Franklin, Finance Director; strategist to James Goldsmith
Rudolph Giuliani New York District Attorney 1986 (archive)
By the late 1980s, the day of the buccaneering tycoon was over. Tiny Rowland, Sir James Goldsmith and Mohamed Al-Fayed were the only ones left.
Originally broadcast on 8 August 1999.
Derek Brightwell, Director, Bovril 1968–74
Sir David Scholey, merchant banker, S. G. Warburg & Co., 1960s
Lord Tebbit, Conservative government minister 1979–87
Lord Spens, Director of Morgan, Grenfell & Co. 1972–82
Larry Elliott, Economics Editor, The Guardian
Basil West, Finance Director, Lonrho 1973–79
John Beveridge QC, barrister to Tiny Rowland
Rowan Bosworth-Davies, Detective, Metropolitan Police Fraud Squad 1980–85
Mohammed Al Fayed
Anthony Howard, Deputy Editor, The Observer 1981–88
James Goldsmith (filmed 1992)
Edward Epstein, friend of James Goldsmith
Roger Seelig, merchant banker at Morgan, Grenfell & Co. 1978–87
Ian Greer
Andrew Roth, author: Parliamentary Profiles
Brian Basham, PR adviser to Mohammed Al Fayed
George Soros, currency speculator
John Aspinall
