The speech Gerald Ratner made to the Institute of Directors on 23 April 1991 must count as one of the more expensive ever given. Ratner was chief executive of the eponymous Ratners Group, a mass-market jewellery retailer with hundreds of branches in the UK and beyond: it was one of those names you’d spot in every town, as solid and permanent a feature of the British high street as Woolworths or C&A.
And then Ratner gave his speech. How could the chain sell sherry decanters, with glasses and silver-plated tray, all for £4.95, he asked? “Because it’s total crap.” He added that the stores sold a set of earrings that were “cheaper than an M&S prawn sandwich but probably wouldn’t last as long”.
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