well, actually it was "I think I pulled a fat"
-that Timmy Summerfield said when he was forced to make a run at the Conti Illinois vs. R.P. Martin cricket match. All the fielders around the wicket fell over laughing at this magic comment by the Falstaff-like figure. I thought about this when I was told that Timmy had passed away. Another great character from the forex market, and who is recording the history for posterity?

I don't know that there is. I discussed writing a book with Muj King, where he would take the dealers and I would take the brokers, and write a history of the market from mid-60's to the present, but the canvassed publishers said that there was too narrow a public. I guess they are right - after all, we were a select bunch. I think at the peak, there were some 23,000 members of the A.C.I. around the world.

Today, I am involved in the 'new wave' of forex and have many conversations with people who believe that the forex market was invented a couple of years ago. I would like them to know that it was not, and the real forex market was rich in characters and that a cameraderie existed with dealers talking and trading directly with each other, long before the Internet. "My word is my bond' was the motto that held us together. Sure, you were out to put one over on your counterpart and sometimes tempers were frayed, but we all met up, either in the pubs in London, or at Forex meetings and were all good friends.

Call me nostalgic, but this was my life. I started aged 17 and most dealers were somewhat older than I. There were some fantastic characters working at now bygone banks and broking shops. In this website, I will attempt to bring back memories, or if you were not a part of it, show you something of the spirit of the people involved.

The way the website is structured is by institution and people, by way of profiles. Some institutions still exist, but others are just memories. Who doesn't remember EBCO, for example? Then, from my or others memories, we take the characters who were there, with the period they were there and some quotes or memories of the time.

As far as the characters are concerned, if the person is still alive, then he or she might like to give their permission to have a profile published. Facts, such as where they worked, what they traded, where and what they are doing now and contact info, if they so wish.

The traders who have passed on to the big dealing room in the sky, the 'raves from the grave', I will attempt to give a profile, ably helped by anyone who has any memories or good stories.

Good stories - that is what we need! Anyone has any (publishable) stories about people in the market, I would love to hear. (Anyone got any of Jean-Pierre Thilges' at Kliem Lux books of quotes?)

I hope that you will enjoy this site, which at the moment is appended to my Forex Trader Mentor site.As soon as I can, I will migrate it to its own site.

Steve Pickering

+45 40864113