In which Tony provides a brief recap of the Sir Fred story for the uninitiated, prior to suffering further encounters with the failed banker turned criminal mastermind.

It had been a while since I'd heard from Sir Fred. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing and in retrospect I should have simply enjoyed the silence. But I suppose it was only a matter of time before he resurfaced, given that I appear to be a popular choice of stooge amongst banking lowlife.

To recap, Sir Fred Godalming had been head of the AUA, the Allied Uber Alles, previously one of the largest banking operations in the world. Despite its name, the AUA did not originate in Germany but did appear to be inspired by certain aspects of its Twentieth century philosophy.

After the bank’s expansionist policies caused it to bloat up like a balloon and the inevitable pin-prick occurred, Godalming chose not to join other high-ranking officials who fled to Argentina. Instead he skipped off to the south of France, having first ensured he was obscenely rich from the operation.

He was a despised figure in his native Scotland, where bankers are publicly flogged and made to wear floral head-dresses to distinguish them from normal people. That would go some way to explain the anti-social hours he kept. However, he also appeared to cast no shadow and had no reflection in the mirror.

When he showed up at 3am apologising for being on Monaco time, I reminded him it was 5am there. He said he needed a new watch.