John Swinfield's Big Business
Welcome to Big Business. Business stories and anecdotes from a leading financial Journalist. I’ve spent much of my life writing and making films about business bosses. This Pod’s gossipy, irreverent, informative and fun. Big business is on every week at 11am (GMT) on Wednesdays. If you like the feed .. please don’t forget to click the subscriber button to follow all new content.
Episodes
22 episodes
Robert Sangster - First past the Post
ROBERT SANGSTER: First past the PostThe bloodstock business is a multi-billion dollar industry employing thousands of people around the globe. John Swinfield made a TV documentary about Robert Sangster who was an axial ...
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Season 1
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Episode 22
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14:09
Ed Acker of Pan Am: Triumphs and Tragedies
SYNOPSISED ACKER of Pan Am: Triumphs and Tragedies Flying taxis, private space shots, aircraft powered by electricity, solar and even hydrogen. Aviation has witnessed swift and tumultuous developme...
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Season 1
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Episode 21
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15:50
Red Letter - Into the Red - How a gift company fell to earth
SYNOPSISINTO THE RED: how a gift company fell to earthA high number of different businesses have gone bust lately, many being the victims of Covid. But life in business has always been precarious with more stories of...
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Season 1
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Episode 20
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13:31
HEAVENS ABOVE: Sir Freddie Laker’s low fares and cheap travel.
HEAVENS ABOVE: Sir Freddie Laker’s low fares and cheap travel.In the capricious airline business low cost fliers battle it out. The Hungarian based Wizz Air has collared a chunk of the market and is widely thought to have ...
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Season 1
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Episode 19
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14:53
MARKS & SPENCER: M&S Weathering the storm
MARKS & SPENCER: Weathering the stormBritain’s ubiquitous Marks & Spencer (M&S) with over a 1,000 shops and 78000 workers began as a market stall in the Yorkshire city of Leeds in 1884. Like other familiar high st...
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Season 1
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Episode 18
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19:59
STRICTLY DELFONT: The impresario Lord Delfont.
STRICTLY DELFONT: The impresario Lord Delfont.Lord Bernard Delfont began as a dancer and rose to the top of the entertainment industry. A powerhouse in London’s theatre land and New York’s Broadway he was part of a media and entertainmen...
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Season 1
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Episode 17
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16:52
PARTY TIME: Clive Sinclair and Jeffrey Archer
PARTY TIME: Clive Sinclair and Jeffrey ArcherLegendary inventor and computer genius Sir Clive Sinclair was a friend of many years standing of John Swinfield. They met up again at a party given by the Tory peer and novelist Jef...
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Season 1
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Episode 16
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15:10
Profits to Popeye - Granada Tv and the Disney Empire
PROFITS TO POPEYEThe world’s biggest mouse house and why Gerry Robinson of Granada TV chose profit over priesthood. Robinson ran Britain’s Granada company. It triggered a takeover battle which changed the face of British TV and en...
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Season 1
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Episode 15
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17:33
Big Bucks and Bold Breakthroughs - Autonomy
Big Bucks and Bold BreakthroughsHi-tech is hi-risk. It’s built into the DNA. People and companies make fortunes, others fall by the wayside. In some the science is strong. In others it’s flaky. Deals can be imperilled by myriad fa...
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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12:07
Little Big Man: Lord Forte global hotelier
FORTELittle Big Man: Lord ForteThe legendary Charles Forte built a hotel and catering empire which straddled the globe, only to see it snatched away in his twilight years in one of the City’s most ferocious takeover ...
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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20:20
Chips with Everything - Arm Silicon Chips
SILICON FEN: CHIPS with EVERYTHINGThe Cambridge hi-tech phenomena has produced myriad outstanding companies, scientists and engineers. A dozen engineers broke away from the once-legendary Acorn computers and start...
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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19:09
New York
New York is one of John Swinfield’s favourite cities. He’s always admired its insomniac energy and insatiable drive. But it was a violent and dangerous place when he first visited, spiralling into a vortex of murder and narcotics. ...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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14:03
Show Business - Pete Waterman, of pop music fame.
That’s ShowbizAs well as making TV documentaries about business leaders for Enterprise (ITV/C4), having previously been a reporter with The Money programme (BBC2), John Swinfield made 26 half-hour interview programmes for Londo...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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14:50
Mobile Phones - John Caudwell and Charles Dunstone of Carphone Warehouse and TalkTalk
John Caudwell of Phones4U and Charles Dunstone of Carphone Warehouse and TalkTalk have made a fortune out of the explosion in mobile phones and telecommunications. But it’s a tough sector and there have been casualties as well....
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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18:05
Minding the shop: Tesco and Sir Leslie Porter
Minding the shop: TescoSecrets of the retail trade with Britain’s biggest shopkeeper. Sir Leslie Porter was the boss of Tesco – Britain’s largest supermarket chain. He was the son-in-law of Jack Cohen, the inventor of supermarket...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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19:52
Gloria Vanderbilt - The heiress Gloria Vanderbilt was an actress, novelist and painter.
Gloria Vanderbilt:The Vanderbilt’s were one of the legendary families with the Rockefeller’s, Henry Ford, JP Morgan and Andrew Carnegie, who built America. The heiress Gloria Vanderbilt was an actress, novelist and painter. An entrepren...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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19:02
Lotus goes Italian!
After the death of motor racing legend Colin Chapman, his Lotus car company was bought by Italian car boss Romano Artiolli, who had previously resuscitated fabled Bugatti cars. Artiolli later sold Lotus to Proton cars of Malaysia...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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18:34
Cars, Turkeys and Double Glazing
Three industrialists who began with nothing and built empires were all friends and lived near each other in the East of England. George Williams built a window company – Bernard Matthews had a turkey business and Colin Chapman created...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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18:03
Regine's and Playboy Club
In this podcast John Swinfield tells the story of a 30 minute film he was making about international nightclub owner Regina and the Playboy club.Please do subscribe to this podcast to listen to weekly podcasts.
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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16:43
Robert Maxwell Part 2. Follow John Swinfield's Big Business Podcast
This is the second part of Robert Maxwell. Please subscribe to keep informed of the latest stories and we hope you enjoy this episode.
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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19:34
Robert Maxwell: Trying to pin down an International fraudster.
Documentary film maker and journalist John Swinfield tries to get to grips with the business tycoon and international fraudster Robert Maxwell. Making a one hour TV movie about the manipulative Maxwell proved an elusive and at times hilarious e...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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20:40
Introduction to Big Business with John Swinfield
Introduction to the Big Business Podcast with John Swinfield. More episodes within the series will follow every Wednesday at 11am (GMT).Next episode is a two part series on the legendary tycoon businessman Robert Maxwell when John was i...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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5:48