John Jessop

John Jessop talked about his recently published book, Tales from the South Pier - “a riveting read” (in his own words) about his adventures in the financial services business, from traffic clerk and financial journalist at Reuters to chief executive of rival Telerate.

Jessop said his motive in writing the book had been to explore the role of human foibles in the rise and fall of business enterprises, set in the context of technological revolution: an anecdotal approach rather than another corporate history.

In a talk as entertaining as the book, Jessop described how the idea for it came, of course, out of a long lunch at El Vino with other Reuters veterans. And the title? His first boss at Reuters, in the Day Markets Section of the economic services, used to end each working day with the catchphrase: “And that, ladies and gentlemen, concludes today’s entertainment from the South Pier.” ■