The Mayfair Set

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}} {{Infobox television | image = The Mayfair Set titles.jpg | image_size = | image_alt = | caption = Title screen | genre = | writer = Adam Curtis | director = [[Adam Curtis]] Annabel Hobley | theme_music_composer = [[John Barry (composer)|John Barry]] (theme from ''Vendetta'', BBC 1966–68) | country = United Kingdom | language = English | num_series = 1 | num_episodes = 4 | producer = Adam Curtis Annabel Hobley | executive_producer = [[Stephen Lambert (media executive)|Stephen Lambert]] | cinematography = David Barker Michael Eley | runtime = 240 mins (in four parts) | company = [[BBC]] | network = [[BBC Two]] | first_aired = {{start date|1999|7|18|df=yes}} | last_aired = {{end date|1999|8|8|df=yes}} | related = {{Plainlist| * ''[[The Living Dead (television documentary series)|The Living Dead]]'' (1995) * ''[[The Century of the Self]]'' (2002) }} }}

'''''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 explores the decline of Britain as a world power, the proliferation of [[asset stripping]] in the 1970s, and how buccaneer capitalists helped to shape the climate of the [[Margaret Thatcher|Thatcher]] years, by focusing on Colonel [[David Stirling]], [[Jim Slater (accountant)|Jim Slater]], [[James Goldsmith|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.<ref name="bafta">{{cite web|url=http://www.bafta.org/television/archive_2000.htm |title=BAFTA Winners 2000 |publisher=[[BAFTA]] |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20041019021706/http://www.bafta.org/television/archive_2000.htm |archivedate=19 October 2004 }}</ref>

Curtis wanted to engage with the [[moral ambiguity]] of figures such as Goldsmith.<ref>{{cite podcast |url= https://shanny.tools/api/hosted/red_scare/CantGetYouOutofMyHeadwAdamCurtis.mp3 |title= Can't Get You Out of My Head w/ Adam Curtis |website=Red Scare Podcast |host= |date=16 February 2021}}</ref>

==Episodes==

===Part 1. 'Who Pays Wins'=== The opening episode focuses on Colonel [[David Stirling]] and the birth of the [[arms industry|global arms trade]] in the 1960s.

Originally broadcast on 18 July 1999.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/e4784fcba45643a0be081ddfddccac7b|title=The Mayfair Set – BBC Two England – 18 July 1999 |date=18 July 1999 |publisher=[[BBC Genome]] |accessdate=21 October 2015}}</ref>

====Contributors==== * [[Charles Gordon-Lennox, 10th Duke of Richmond]], friend of David Stirling * [[John Aspinall (zoo owner)|John Aspinall]] (filmed 1971) * Maj. Bernard Mills, ex-SAS; commander in [[North Yemen Civil War#British involvement 1962.E2.80.931965|Yemen Operation]] * Colin Campbell, friend and business partner of David Stirling * [[Said Aburish]], Arab historian * Col. Johnny Cooper, ex-SAS; commander in Yemen Operation * [[Denis Healey|Lord Healey]], Minister of Defence 1964–70; Chancellor of the Exchequer 1974–79 * Geoffrey Edwards (archive), Saudi-based arms dealer * [[Robin Inskip, 2nd Viscount Caldecote|Lord Caldecote]], Director, [[English Electric]] 1953–69 * [[Ahmed Zaki Yamani|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 International Bank|Arab Investment Bank]] (filmed 1976) * Ronald Ellis, Head of [[Defence Export Services Organisation|Ministry of Defence Arms Sales]] (filmed 1977)

===Part 2. 'Entrepreneur Spelt S.P.I.V.'=== The rise of accountant, game theorist and asset stripper [[Jim Slater (accountant)|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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/9b499912027b45c399e7602b7a7c691e|title=The Mayfair Set – BBC Two England – 25 July 1999 |date=25 July 1999 |publisher=BBC Genome}}</ref>

====Contributors==== * [[Anthony Grant (politician)|Sir Anthony Grant]], [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] MP 1964–97 * [[Jim Slater (accountant)|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 (zoo owner)|John Aspinall]] * Brian Basham, financial journalist, 1960s * Eric Armitage, chief accountant, [[Lonmin|Lonrho]] 1969–72 * [[Tiny Rowland]] (interviewed 1973) * Col. A. J. Aylmer, nephew of [[Edward Spears|General Spears]] * Dr Mathias Mpande, Deputy Minister of Mines, [[Zambia]] * [[Terry Smith (businessman)|Terry Smith]], City analyst * John Bentley, head of Slater Walker satellite 1970–75 (archive) * [[Sir 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

===Part 3. 'Destroy the Technostructure' === This episode tells the story of how [[James Goldsmith|Sir James Goldsmith]], through a series of [[corporate raid]]s, became one of the world's richest men, and a victim of his own success.

Originally broadcast on 1 August 1999.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/8ad0e5173dfd4fc6bf2fa01a61ab627c|title=The Mayfair Set – BBC Two England – 1 August 1999 |date=August 1999 |publisher=BBC Genome}}</ref>

====Contributors==== * G. Christian Andersen, banker at [[Drexel Burnham Lambert]] 1978–89 * [[Steve Wynn]], Chief Executive, [[Golden Nugget Las Vegas|The Golden Nugget]] * Tim Metz, financial journalist, ''[[Wall Street Journal]]'' 1966–89 * Prof. [[John Kenneth 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 * [[Albert J. Dunlap|Al Dunlap]] * [[Tom Peters]], management theorist (speaking 1986) * Gordon Binns, Head of [[Pension Fund]], [[General Motors]] 1982–94 * [[Ira Millstein|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 Ltd|Post Office]] 1978–87 * [[Brian Crozier]], private [[Counterintelligence|counter-intelligence]] operation * [[Roland Franklin]], Finance Director; [[strategist]] to [[James Goldsmith]] * [[Rudolph Giuliani]], New York District Attorney 1986 (archive)

===Part 4. 'Twilight of the Dogs'=== 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/dfa3f275baa849fdafa4a9af38931d25|title=The Mayfair Set – BBC Two England – 8 August 1999 |date=8 August 1999 |publisher=BBC Genome}}</ref>

====Contributors==== * Derek Brightwell, Director, [[Bovril]] 1968–74 * [[David Scholey|Sir David Scholey]], merchant banker, [[S. G. Warburg & Co.]], 1960s * [[Norman Tebbit|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 (UK)|Fraud Squad]] 1980–85 * [[Mohammed Al Fayed]] * [[Anthony Howard (journalist)|Anthony Howard]], Deputy Editor, ''[[The Observer]]'' 1981–88 * [[Sir James Goldsmith]] (filmed 1992) * [[Edward Jay Epstein|Edward Epstein]], friend of James Goldsmith * Roger Seelig, merchant banker at Morgan, Grenfell & Co. 1978–87 * [[Ian Greer]], British political lobbyist * [[Andrew Roth]], author: ''Parliamentary Profiles'' * Brian Basham, PR adviser to Mohammed Al Fayed * [[George Soros]], [[speculation|currency speculator]] * [[John Aspinall (zoo owner)|John Aspinall]]

==See also== * ''[[Let's Make Money]]'' (2008) * [[Inside Job (2010 film)|''Inside Job'']] (2010)

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{BBC programmes}} * {{IMDb title|id=0283201|title=The Mayfair Set}} * {{YouTube|p=PLtPP_-rkrT3D-9HZkN0BAgMS1F1ODLQES|title=''The Mayfair Set''}} * [https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/1999/jul/16/features11.g21 ''Mayfair's Wheel of Fortune''] at ''[[The Guardian]]'', 16 July 1999

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayfair Set, The}} [[Category:1999 British television series debuts]] [[Category:1999 British television series endings]] [[Category:1999 in British television]] [[Category:BBC television documentaries]] [[Category:Business-related television series in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Documentary films about business]] [[Category:Documentary television series about economics]] [[Category:English-language British television shows]]