Controversial retailer Gerald Ratner, the so-called ’Sultan of Bling’ has been snapped up to speak in the island.

Impressive speakers probably don’t come much bigger than jewellery business owner Ratner.

He will be the first guestspeaker of 2018 for the Sporting and Dining Club.

Gerald Ratner is a British household name. Born in 1949 and educated at Hendon County Grammar School, he joined the family firm, Ratners, in 1965. He took over the jewellery business in 1984, which, at that time, had 130 stores.

Just six years later, in 1990, it had rapidly expanded 2,500 stores, employing 25,000 staff, and with annual sales of £1.2bn and profits of £121m, becoming chairman/chief executive of Ratners Group, the world’s largest jewellery retail company, (which included H Samuel and Ernest Jones.

He quickly became the darling of the city, and was invited to speak at the Albert Hall to the influential Institute of Directors.

It was at this engagement in 1991, that unfortunately Gerald went down in history for a mega-gaffe, when he described one of their products, a sherry decanter, as ’total crap’.

The resultant near collapse of the company, with £500m being wiped from the value of Ratner’s Group of Jewellers, forced his resignation to the very chairman he had appointed. His gaffe earned him the sobriquet ’Sultan of Bling.’

And the term ’Doing a Ratner’ became common parlance in the business world.

Gaffes aside, Gerald has managed to climb back to the top,bouncing back from his fall from grace, learning valuable lessons on his way back up.

He has built an American business from scratch and now has more than 1,000 shops in the US, valued at more than £35 million, and, in doing so, he has now become one of the few UK retailers to succeed on the other side of the Atlantic. And he has recently expanded the business into India. He also runs the UK’s largest online jewellery business, which trades as Gerald Online.

As an after dinner speaker, Gerald is said to entertain his audiences with tales of his wild, up-and-down roller coaster ride in business, in his inimitable, humorous and erudite style. And, he is not doing too badly now, with his house, swimming pool and Bentley Continental GT on the drive.

JohnWannenburgh of the Sporting and Dining Club said: ’He is sure to entertain our members and their guests when he visits the Isle of Man in February.’

The event takes place on Thursday, February 8 at the Palace Hotel, Douglas.

The Sporting and Dining Club numbers are 0845 388 4253 and 495749.

Details are also on the club’s Facebook page.

Gerald Ratner featured on the cover of his autobiography

Gerald Ratner pictured outside one of his shops.

Gerald Ratner has bounced back