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From Wondery, I'm Matt Ford and I'm Alice Levine and this is British Scandal.

Over the last few weeks we've been telling the tense nail-biting absurd story of Nick Leeson.

How he ran up losses of more than £800 million while he was working as a trader for Bearing's Bank and how he went on the run and developed a quite disturbing taste for fruit pastels.

The only 28 of the time, although all the sweets and kindregs do make him sound like he's probably only 12.

If you're ever short of cash, call Brenda, that's Brenda in London, she seems pretty chill, she'll give it to you. And if for some reason you become a fugitive, then make sure they miss by your name on the plane ticket and your home dry.

I love how you've taken away all the tips that would help you get away.

Oh yeah, wait a sec. Do I want to be a rogue trader?

Well, be warned, because Leeson ended up being sent to prison in Singapore for six and a half years.

And as a Bearing's, after centuries of history, Britain's oldest bank collapsed and it was later bought for £1, which incidentally is the price of a Kindergarten.

There's something very full circle about that, which is probably what they spent it on in fairness.

So how could such a distinguished institution be destroyed, apparently almost overnight by the reckless gambles of a single trader and could it happen again?

One man who covered this story at the time is John Gapper. He's business columnist at the Financial Times and co-wrote the best book about the Leeson Affair, all that glitters the fall of Bearing's.

If you want to know more, it's definitely worth a read.

John is also an expert on traders who've gone bad and wrote about them in his latest book, How to Be a Rogue Trader. We'll be talking to him next.

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