From Mr Andrew Roberts Sir: Like Simon Nixon I worked
at Flem- ings for three years. They very decently kept me on despite that fact that it was very obvious to everyone that I was utterly use- less at merchant banking. Although he seems to have experienced the same charm and gentlemanly behaviour that I did, there was a tone of asperity to his article which I could not fathom.
His underlying argument was that the Fleming family had somehow failed, despite the fact that they have sold their stake in the company for £1.5 billion, a fig- ure Mr Nixon accepts is an astonishing top- of-the-market price valuing the whole com- pany at £4.9 billion — an outlay which Chase Manhattan might never recoup. If that can be described as 'the demise of a dynasty', I'm sure that there are many other families that would love to fail in the same way. By any objective criteria, the Flemings have done staggeringly well by themselves, Do you have any diet water?' their employees and their shareholders, and the original Robert Fleming would have been proud of his descendants. Andrew Roberts London SW3
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