science

The Mayfair Set

The Mayfair Set is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Mayfair Set rather than just read about it. In short: The Mayfair Set, subtitled Four Stories about the Rise of Business and the Decline of Political Power, is a BBC television documentary series by filmmaker Adam Curtis. It explores the decline of Britain as a world power, the proliferation of asset stripping in the 1970s, and how buccaneer capitalists helped to shape the climate of the Thatcher years, by focusing on Colonel David Stirling, Jim Slater, Sir James Golds…

Key takeaways

The Mayfair Set belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Mayfair Set to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Mayfair Set from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Mayfair Set, subtitled Four Stories about the Rise of Business and the Decline of Political Power, is a BBC television documentary series by filmmaker Adam Curtis. It explores the decline of Britain as a world power, the proliferation of asset stripping in the 1970s, and how buccaneer capitalists helped to shape the climate of the Thatcher years, by focusing on Colonel David Stirling, Jim Slater, Sir James Goldsmith and Tiny Rowland—members of London's elite Clermont Club in the 1960s. It won a BAFTA Award for Best Factual Series or Strand in 2000. Curtis wanted to engage with the moral ambiguity of figures such as Goldsmith.

Episodes

Part 1. 'Who Pays Wins' The opening episode focuses on Colonel David Stirling and the birth of the global arms trade in the 1960s. Originally broadcast on 18 July 1999.

Contributors Charles Gordon-Lennox, 10th Duke of Richmond, friend of David Stirling John Aspinall (filmed 1971) Maj. Bernard Mills, ex-SAS; commander in Yemen Operation Colin Campbell, friend and business partner of David Stirling Said Aburish, Arab historian Col. Johnny Cooper, ex-SAS; commander in Yemen Operation Lord Healey, Minister of Defence 1964–70; Chancellor of the Exchequer 1974–79 Geoffrey Edwards (archive), Saudi-based arms dealer Lord Caldecote, Director, English Electric 1953–69 Sheikh Ahmed Yamani, Saudi Energy Minister (interviewed 1974) Victor Lownes, head of British Playboy 1966–81 Marilyn Cole, receptionist at Clermont Club 1974–77 Mayfair resident (filmed 1974) Col. David Stirling (filmed 1974) Kate Losinska, Head of Civil and Public Services Association 1979–82 Dr Mohammed Abu Shadi, Head of Arab Investment Bank (filmed 1976) Ronald Ellis, Head of Ministry of Defence Arms Sales (filmed 1977)

Part 2. 'Entrepreneur Spelt S.P.I.V.' The rise of accountant, game theorist and asset stripper Jim Slater, who became famous for writing an investment column in The Sunday Telegraph under the nom de plume of The Capitalist. Originally broadcast on 25 July 1999.

Contributors Sir Anthony Grant, Conservative MP 1964–97 Jim Slater Malcolm Horsman, executive, Slater Walker 1965–71 Andrew Coote, manager, Cork Manufacturing 1965; son of Colonel Coote Christopher Fildes, financial journalist since 1963 Una-Mary Parker, Mayfair socialite, 1960s John Aspinall Brian Basham, financial journalist, 1960s Eric Armitage, chief accountant, Lonrho 1969–72 Tiny Rowland (interviewed 1973) Col. A. J. Aylmer, nephew of General Spears Dr Mathias Mpande, Deputy Minister of Mines, Zambia Terry Smith, City analyst John Bentley, head of Slater Walker satellite 1970–75 (archive) Sir James Goldsmith (archive) Maj. Colin MacKenzie, member of Lonrho board 1961–73 Douglas Hurd, political secretary to Edward Heath 1968–75 Capt. Bill Wilming, Tiny Rowland's pilot 1968–91

Part 3. 'Destroy the Technostructure' This episode tells the story of how Sir James Goldsmith, through a series of corporate raids, became one of the world's richest men, and a victim of his own success. Originally broadcast on 1 August 1999.

Contributors G. Christian Andersen, banker at Drexel Burnham Lambert 1978–89 Steve Wynn, Chief Executive, The Golden Nugget Tim Metz, financial journalist, Wall Street Journal 1966–89 Prof. John Kenneth Galbraith, economist Ian Wilsdon, Executive, Crown-Zellerbach 1975–84 Scott Weldon, Executive, Crown-Zellerbach 1978–85 Don Engel, banker at Drexel Burnham Lambert, 1981–90 Al Dunlap Tom Peters, management theorist (speaking 1986) Gordon Binns, Head of Pension Fund, General Motors 1982–94 Ira Milstein, lawyer representing pension funds Lord Spens, merchant banker, 1980s Charles Woodward, Chief Executive of Pension Fund, British Airways 1984–91 Nick Fitzpatrick, Head of Pension Fund, British Rail 1976–86 Clive Gilchrist, deputy director of Pension Fund, Post Office 1978–87 Brian Crozier, private counter-intelligence operation Roland Franklin, Finance Director; strategist to James Goldsmith Rudolph Giuliani, New York District Attorney 1986 (archive)

Part 4. 'Twilight of the Dogs' By the late 1980s, the day of the buccaneering tycoon was over. Tiny Rowland, Sir James Goldsmith and Mohamed Al-Fayed were the only ones left. Originally broadcast on 8 August 1999.

Contributors Derek Brightwell, Director, Bovril 1968–74 Sir David Scholey, merchant banker, S. G. Warburg & Co., 1960s Lord Tebbit, Conservative government minister 1979–87 Lord Spens, Director of Morgan, Grenfell & Co. 1972–82 Larry Elliott, Economics Editor, The Guardian Basil West, Finance Director, Lonrho 1973–79 John Beveridge QC, barrister to Tiny Rowland Rowan Bosworth-Davies, Detective, Metropolitan Police Fraud Squad 1980–85 Mohammed Al Fayed Anthony Howard, Deputy Editor, The Observer 1981–88 Sir James Goldsmith (filmed 1992) Edward Epstein, friend of James Goldsmith Roger Seelig, merchant banker at Morgan, Grenfell & Co. 1978–87 Ian Greer, British political lobbyist Andrew Roth, author: Parliamentary Profiles Brian Basham, PR adviser to Mohammed Al Fayed George Soros, currency speculator John Aspinall

See also Let's Make Money (2008) Inside Job (2010)

References

External links The Mayfair Set at BBC Online The Mayfair Set at IMDb The Mayfair Set playlist on YouTube Mayfair's Wheel of Fortune at The Guardian, 16 July 1999

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Mayfair Set

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Mayfair Set claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Mayfair Set before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Mayfair Set ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Mayfair Set

In research: The Mayfair Set appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Mayfair Set in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Mayfair Set is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1999 British television series debuts, 1999 British television series endings, 1999 English-language television series debuts, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Mayfair Set outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The Mayfair Set in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Mayfair Set means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Mayfair Set out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Mayfair Set in simple terms?

Why does The Mayfair Set matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Mayfair Set?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Mayfair Set.