A Good Read: Sir Michael Darrington and Terri Duhon

Books and Authors

BBC

Society & Culture, Books

4.2 • 824 Ratings

🗓️ 16 October 2012

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What do teen blockbuster 'The Hunger Games' and Marguerite Duras' erotic semi-memoir 'The Lover' have in common? Could it be heroines determined to survive? Sir Michael Darrington brought Greggs bakeries to every high street and is now leading a campaign against boardroom bonuses. His book choice is John Grisham's 'The Litigators', a comic story of a hotshot lawyer who rejects the fast lane in favour of making a difference to ordinary lives. Terri Duhon has been described as a 'Harley Davidson-riding maths whiz from rural Louisiana'. Her choice is 'The Hunger Games' by Suzanne Collins, which explores a dog-eat-dog world of reality TV and power imbalance. Harriett, who confesses to being a Grisham virgin, is amazed to find connections between 'The Hunger Games' and her choice, Marguerite Duras' erotic autobiographical novel set in French colonial Vietnam in the late 1920s, 'The Lover'. Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, it's Nicola Cochlin. Young people have been making history for years, but we don't often hear about them. My brand new series on BBC Sounds sets out to put this right. In history's youngest heroes, I'll be revealing the fascinating stories of 12 young people who've played a major role in history and who've helped shape our world. Like Audrey Hepburn, Nelson Mandela, Louis Braille and Lady Jane Grey,
0:24.7	history's youngest heroes with me, Nicola Cochlin. Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:30.5	Thanks for downloading a good read. You can find more information on all the BBC downloads
0:35.2	at BBC.co.uk slash radio four.
0:41.5	Hello, welcome to a good read where I'm joined today by one of the country's top businessmen,
0:46.5	Sir Michael Darrington, and leading American financier Terry Duhon. Terry had no sooner graduated from
0:52.9	MIT in 1994
0:54.4	than she joined J.P. Morgan as a derivatives trader.
0:57.9	There she was instrumental in developing the credit derivative market globally.
1:02.1	And in Gillian Tett's book about the period, Fool's Gold,
1:05.1	she features prominently described by one of the book's reviewers
1:08.4	as a Harley Davidson riding maths whiz from rural Louisiana.
1:13.7	After 10 years on the trading floor, Terry founded B&B Structured Finance Limited to provide expert consulting and financial markets training.
1:23.0	She also lectures and has just published her own first book, How the Trading Floor Really Works. Terry, welcome to a good read.
1:30.4	Thank you. And welcome to Mike Darrington. Having qualified as a chartered accountant, Mike worked first for United Biscuits. Then having taken an intensive course at Harvard Business School in 1983, he joined Greggs as group managing director. So successfully that by the time
1:46.8	he retired a quarter of a century on, the company employed around 19,000 people, had a turnover of
1:52.9	some 600 million pounds, and the share price had risen 30-fold. Michael believes that companies should
1:59.2	benefit not only their shareholders, but also staff,
2:02.2	customers and the wider society. He founded pro-business against greed, a campaign for a fairer
2:08.7	society, and received his knighthood for service to business and the community. And, Mike, your
2:14.9	choice of a good read. It's the litigators by John Grishon.
2:19.4	John Grisham is an interesting author.
	...

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