Banking heroes

AT the moment, bankers rank somewhere below politicians, tax inspectors and traffic wardens in the popularity stakes.

It seems that even people who normally glaze over during the economic reports on the news have a theory about why bankers and their bonuses are to blame for all the world’s woes.

As a team captain on Have I Got News for You and editor of Private Eye, you’d normally expect to see Ian Hislop, pictured, leading the satirical jabs at their expense. In fact, he’s here to remind us that the profession didn’t always have such a bad reputation. Don’t worry though, it’s not because Hislop is going soft – he still believes in holding the powerful to account.

He recently told The Guardian: “All satirists have been told, ‘You’re making the job of Government impossible’ when all we are really doing is trying to keep them honest. Of course their job is difficult, but it’s better to say that these things are going on than say, ‘This is a tough job, give them a break’.”

Instead, he’s following up his acclaimed series Age of the Do-Gooders by looking back to the Victorian era to learn more about the financiers who tried to use their wealth and influence to improve the lot of others.

He finds that the era’s bankers had achieved wealth on a scale unimaginable to previous generations. But instead of rushing out to buy snuff and top-of-therange carriages, many of these newlyrich men and women were uncomfortable with their new-found fortunes.

They weren’t the only ones – Britain was caught up in a fierce national debate about the morality of money and its potential to corrupt.

Even amid those worries, Quaker Samuel Gurney’s prudence shone through as he weathered the financial storms of the 1820s. He also used his wealth to fund the pioneering work of his sister, prison reformer Elizabeth Fry (aka the woman on the five pound note who isn’t the Queen).

Merchant banker George Peabody also wouldn’t have fitted in with today’s image of reckless City whizz kids – in fact, Hislop finds he had a reputation as a scrooge, yet, he still made an enormous donation to London housing. Angela Burdett-Coutts inherited her fortune and was prepared to give it all up, not just to good causes – although she did that as well – but for love.

Meanwhile, Natty Rothschild believed it wasn’t just up to bankers to contribute to society, but the banks themselves. Hislop finds he didn’t believe in the welfare state, thinking the Big Society should take care of the dogooding – an argument that’s recently been reignited.

So, if some of the theories of the Victorian bankers are making a comeback, can we also expect a return to the days of the philanthropist?

Hislop seems to think the signs are encouraging.

He told TV Choice: “I think we’re about to hit an era where we find a lot more of them.

There are more people who are thinking, ‘I have to do something beyond what the State provides’. There are some obvious examples in the US, with the likes ofBill Gates and people with incredible wealth.”

Maybe bankers will one day be seen as good again.

USUALLY, when a hairdresser is on TV it’s because they’ve been drafted in to help transform someone on a makeover show, not because they are about to be profiled on the BBC One’s flagship arts programme. But then, Vidal Sassoon is not just any hairdresser.

Before he revolutionised the industry in the Sixties, British women really did have their hair dressed – a visit to the salon usually involved having their locks set in curlers, teased into a bouffant and then lacquered solid. Sassoon is credited with putting the emphasis on the cut instead, creating eye-catching, low-maintenance styles.

Here, Alan Yentob charts his extraordinary career, and finds out just what made Sassoon a cut above the rest. And, if there’s time, maybe he’ll also get to ask him if he’s going anywhere nice for his holidays.

HE’S Gethin busy… well Gethin Jones, actually, as the former Blue Peter presenter hurtles around in a microlight and takes on one of the UK’s toughest cycle paths with copresenter Charlotte Uhlenbroek.

The Peak District is the first area to be investigated by the pair in a six-part series which also tests Yorkshire’s attractions.