The Possibility of Something Happening

Do you want to know how Lloyd's works from the inside? Here, in easy terms, is a history and working description of that august institution, written by a city luminary who is an experienced broker and former Underwriting Member at Lloyd's.You'll find explained the important distinction between agents and brokers, marine and non-marine, insurance and re-insurance, slips and lines. The magical word 'Name' is defined, along with the equally important phrase 'Stop Loss' and that troublesome concept, 'unlimited liability'.Some of us might agree with the author that when Lloyd's moved to its brash new tubular premises in Lime Street, the writing was on the wall - if you could find one. What's right about Lloyd's, and what went wrong, is explained with clarity and insight. Plenty of humour is provided by the author's personal business recollections. But with recent events in the USA still fresh in the mind, he points out that the story of Lloyd's is marked by one great imponderable - human nature. And that's what makes it such a risky business.Graham Langmead was born in Dulwich in 1924. After leaving the army in 1948, he joined Lloyd's as a broker with C.T. Bowring, and spent many happy years travelling to North America and 'taking risks' in the United States and Canada.In 1973, fed up with train strikes, he decided to live near to his work and took up residence in the Barbican, when most of it was still a building site and the Barbican Arts Centre was just a hole in the ground. He was elected as a Common Councilman for the Ward of Tower in the City of London, where his office was located, later being appointed by the Alderman as a Deputy of the Ward. The Corporation of London is the only non-party local political authority in the country, and its elected members do not receive attendance money or expenses. They give their time free to civic activities.In 1995, he moved to the south coast, where he and his wife gaze contentedly at the sea from their second-floor patio, which is just big enough to entertain four (six at a pinch) to cocktails while watching the sun go down over the Isle of Wight.