Ratner, Gerald

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 3.9m in 2001, when one of the club's members, Goldsmiths the Jewellers head, Jurek Piasecki,...