ANTIQUES ROADSHOW FOR CAPITA CASANOVA
THEY say when you wed you should have something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue.
But no-one could have imagined quite how literally Capita Financial Group’s Mark Millard would take the “old” commandment when he proposed to Morgan Stanley’s Kelly Janes in a dining room full of antiques worth more than £3m.
Millard, an accountant at the investment management company, made his decent proposal at a Dining Off Antiques dinner for 20 City workers in the private room of the newly opened Roux at The Landau in the Langham Hotel, held in aid of the Dispossessed Fund.
Millard had been planning to ask Janes on the evening of the dinner ever since he heard about the event four weeks previously and – with the aid of restaurant manager Franco Becchi and an antique ring from Hatton Gardens that cost him about 80% of his bonus – he made the proposal as the starters were served so he could “enjoy the rest of my meal”.
Happily Janes, an accountant in Morgan Stanley’s trading team, said yes as she started crying “in a good way”.
“At least, I think it was genuine happiness,” said Millard, whose only slight concern was that the shock of the announcement might bring on the birth of their first child rather sooner than the expected due date in four weeks’ time.
MERVYN’S GOLD STAR
NEWS reaches The Capitalist that City law firm Eversheds has today launched a Walk of Fame outside its One Wood Street HQ, in a Hollywood-style stunt to honour the greatest talents of the financial world.
The first gold star will be given to Bank of England governor Mervyn King (right), in recognition of his “outstanding contribution to governing the dramatic twists and turns the City has experienced over the past few years”. According to a well-placed source at Eversheds, similar pavement tributes for former RBS boss Fred Goodwin and former Northern Rock chief Adam Applegarth are not far behind.
HARD TIMES
BUT while the above story may or may not be an April Fool, the following is in no way a hoax – the tale of an out-of-work banker whose savings took a £4,000 hit after he got “carried away” at a lapdancing club.
The culprit, believed to be a former employee in the London office of a major US bank, was surprised to learn how much he had spent at the Euston branch of Secrets – and when he realised his mistake, he wrote to the chain’s owner offering to send in his receipts so he could be reimbursed for his “silly mistake”.
He wrote: “I’m out of work at the moment and I currently rely on my savings to get by each day. So the money I have, I try to save and only spend when necessary.” But owner Stephen Less was unsympathetic: presumably, cocktails and semi-naked dancing girls do not count as essential household items.
BANKING BLUES
CARTOONIST Marf’s wry takes on the banking crisis and the recession (above) have been brought together for the first time at the City Blues exhibition at the Guildhall Art Gallery on 5 Aldermanbury, which runs from today until 20 June.
Highlights include the 3D cartoon sculpture of a City worker under a guillotine, called The Chop – and yes, the guillotine is working.