In 1991, Gerald Ratner was booked to make what should have been an everyday speech at the Institute of Directors. Should have been. When the words "total crap" come out of his mouth in connection with a decanter and glasses set sold by his company, H. Samuel, it all turned out slightly different. "The Rise and Fall...And Rise Again" tells the full story, in Gerald Ratner's own words, of what lead him to that point at the IoD, the horror of what happened in the immediate aftermath, the fallout and the comeback.This is the first time Gerald Ratner has given his side of the story. And what a story it is. You'll find out: How he wiped GBP500m off the value of his own company virtually overnight. It contains all the details about: the initial gaffe and how he compounded it by remarking that some of the earrings were "cheaper than an M&S prawn sandwich but probably wouldn't last as long"; How "doing a Ratner" has entered into the vocabulary of British business; the wilderness years sitting glued to the sofa in front of Countdown; how he has bounced back, rediscovering his entrepreneurial spark by building up a health club business; and, more recently, the immensely successful online jewellery retailer Geraldonline.com. The story's not over yet...
Gerald Ratner joined the family business in 1966 and built up an extremely successful chain of jewellers during the '80s, of which he was Chief Exec. In 1991 he made an infamous speech to a private audience at the IoD which was instantly seized upon by the media. He was eventually sacked 18 months later, and in 1994 the Ratner name was expunged from the company, renamed The Signet Group. For four years he worked as a general business consultant, before setting up a health club in Henley. He sold it for GBP3.9m in 2001, when one of the club's members, Goldsmiths the Jewellers head, Jurek Piasecki, encouraged him to go back into the jewellery trade. Subsequently Ratner set up an online jewellery business, GeraldOnline. In August 2006, press speculation has noted that Ratner is interested in acquiring the UK business of Signet Group plc - the re-named Ratner's group. He is a married father of four and a fitness fanatic, cycling around 20 miles per day.
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