The Jobbing System of the London Stock Exchange: An Oral History
Ref.No.: 16	Playback No.:

Interviewee's surname:    Lewis	Title: Mr
Interviewee's forenames:  Anthony	(‘Tony’)  Jonas
Date of birth:   19 January 1928	Sex: Male
Date(s) of recording:    14 March 1990 
Location of interview:   Smith New Court, Chetwynd House, St. Swithin's Lane, London, EC4 
Name of interviewer: Bernard Attard
Type of recorder: Marantz CP 430
Total no. of tapes:  2	Speed:
Type of tape:  TDK AR 60	Noise reduction: DBX
Mono or stereo: Stereo	Original or copy:  Copy
Additional material:
Copyright/Clearance: CMH; no restrictions

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS 

Tape 1, side 1

Personal and family background; influence of father; how joins Smith Brothers; attitude to money and the Stock Exchange; education; description of Smith Brothers; office strike; early impressions of the Stock Exchange; Sidney King; early experiences dealing in the gold market; description of the gold market; shops; Frank Bennett dealing for one of the shops; open bidding and offering; characters in the gold market; George Lazarus; story of competitive bidding to raise the make-up price; arbitrage; Merrill Lynch buy circular on Lydenburg Platinum; contacts in South Africa; involvement of Smith Brothers in the gold market; unauthorised dealing as a blue button.

Tape 1, side 2        

Disciplined for trading as a blue button; 'flair' required by a jobber; development of firm; takes over oil book; takeover bid for Trinidad Oil; Sidney King leaves the firm; takes over Stores book; stuffs King with Gussey (Great Universal Stores) Shares; story of large selling order and joint book in Woolworths shares; tensions with brokers; loss of business in international stocks; changes in Stock Exchange rules to allow jobbers to deal with outside firms; Lewis given order to buy 29.9 per cent of Union Corporation; end of his trading career.

Tape 2, side 1  

Abortive entry into the gilt market; public flotation of firm; improvement of staff conditions; expansion of the company; possible merger with Bisgood Bishop; structure of international market; attitude to abolition of single capacity; capitalisation; acquisition of firms at Big Bang; qualities of a successful jobber; example of occasion when required courage as a jobber; the strengths of the jobbing system.