After Dinner Speakers: Robin Leigh-Pemberton, D'Oyly Carte opera company, John Craven

Robin, his real name is Robert; Leigh-Pemberton was, born in 1927, qualified as a chartered accountant in 1967 having already successfully practised as a lawyer. A Director and then chairman of the National Westminster Bank, a post he held from 1977 to 1983, he became Governor of the Bank of England and was made a life peer in 1984. His governorship spanned four Chancellors of the Exchequer under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, taking in a series of crises, the most famous of which being Black Wednesday, when the Bank lost its reserves as sterling was forced out of the ERM. There was also the Johnson Matthey Bank collapse; the Big Bang in October 1987 and the BCCI collapse. JMB soured relations with Chancellor Nigel Lawson and Leigh-Pemberton said the experience led him to seek a more open and 'regular' relationship with the Treasury, citing this as one of his main achievements. Became Lord Kingsdown. Robin Leigh Pemberton has much to tell about business, banking and the economy in the early years of Margaret Thatchers first government.