The End of Alchemy: Money, Banking and the Future of the Global Economy
by Mervyn King (Little, Brown, £25)
I have known Mervyn King for over 20 years. We worked together at the Bank of England in the 1990s. We then worked opposite each other when I was Chairman of the Financial Services Authority. I have observed him in his preferred habitats: a beautiful library attached to his home in Kent, and the Directors’ lounge at Aston Villa Football Club. Yet until now, I had never suspected that he bought his socks at Harrods.