Stephen Fry's Key to the City Page #4

in Room 101. - Whoa.

- I've got the keys. Ready to come in?

- Absolutely. Most mysterious.

So actually, this is a 1970s office

block.

I was gonna say, it's all breeze

blocks and decay.

- It's not... - Or is it?

- Curioser and curioser.

- It certainly is.

Caroline has obtained special

permission for me to descend

to a site close to the river.

- We're now right under the road,

are we? - Yes, we are.

The Old Billingsgate.

- Oh! - What we're looking at his a

Roman house

with a bath house in its forecourt.

So, yes, in this basement of a 1970s

office block

here is an absolute treasure.

The house was built some time in the

second Century.

The bath house is an addition in the

third Century.

When was all this first unearthed

in modern times?

Well, it was discovered in 1848.

This is actually the site of the

Coal Exchange in London.

- Oh, is it? - Yes. And they were

demolishing the building...

..in the Victorian period...

- ..when the workmen unearthed...

- This. - ..this.

The Victorians were taken with it

and the first scheduling

of ancient monuments came in in 1882

and this was one of the first

monuments to make it on to the list.

So this is the flue. Looks like a

pizza oven.

Yes, it really does, doesn't it?

This is the hot room. Cos it's the

one nearest the furnace.

And so the floor was laid on these

piles of tiles.

Yes. So they raised the floor up to

get the underfloor heating.

Absolutely.

London only exists, the city today

only exists,

because of the DNA the Romans put

down for us 2,000 years ago.

It was initially a river crossing

for the army

but the army supply route meant

merchants from all over the Empire

flocked into this new market and

that trading...

The procurator, the person who was

in control of all of the finances

of Britannia was here - it's all

about money and trade.

- And it's all about that movement of

people. - And has been ever since.

- Absolutely. - And, of course, beyond

the river behind me,

is the Thames and the old

Billingsgate Market.

And I suppose people would come off

boats.

And if this was a public baths, they

would come in here

as a treat after a long voyage.

The Romans liked to have their bath

before their main meal

so if you came to this inn, if it

was an inn,

erm...you had the luxury of just

taking a few steps from your room

straight into your private bath

house.

Fantastic.

At the centre of Londinium stood an

impressive amphitheatre

on the site of the present

Guildhall.

Today, I'm sure some people would

want to see a few bankers

thrown to the lions.

Unlike the hidden bath house, the

amphitheatres remains

are open to the public and its

outline is marked in grey

on the Guildhall's courtyard.

The City's boundaries follow the

shape of the Roman wall

built to protect Londinium and its

30,000 inhabitants.

Today, 400,000 people work in the

City

but only 8,000 actually live here.

I want to know what it's like to

have spent your life

in the City of London.

Not a financier, fancy mayor or a

member of a livery company.

And I've been told about this lady

called Doris.

So I want to meet her. She's in her

eighties.

And she's kindly invited me for a

cup of good old Rosie Lee.

Doris McGovern was born in the City

and has lived here all her life.

- Doris? - Hello. - Hello.

- Oh, I'm so pleased to see you.

- How delightful to meet you.

Really nice. Yes. Super. Super.

And on a gorgeous day as well.

We could do with a few more shops,

though. A Marks & Spencers.

- They do deliver, you know. - I know

they do.

But you've got to buy 75 worth of

goods.

That's the problem, isn't it. Yes.

You can always buy a life's supply

of lavatory paper!

(GUFFAWS)

- I like it. - You can never have too

much loo roll.

That's my view.

- Ooh, my goodness. Buns.

- Help yourselves.

Ooooh! I've never been able to help

myself from helping myself.

- Go on. - I think these are called

Fondant Fancies.

- They are. - And I'm a bit of a sucker

for a fondant fancy.

Erm...Doris, the one thing I've

noticed on your wall

is something that I happen to possess

as well.

Which is the Freedom of the City of

London.

- When did you get that? - Six or seven

years ago.

I used to do a lot of volunteering

at one time when I was younger.

Helping people. So that but being in

the City more, I think.

And what does it mean being a Freeman

of the City?

Not an awful lot as far as I'm

concerned.

Only driving sheep across London

Bridge.

Driving...? Cos I'm a freeman as

well.

- Shall we drive sheep along London

Bridge? - Shall we try?

Shall we do that? Someone told me

that that was a myth.

But then I discovered it isn't

really a myth

because you are allowed to trade

across London Bridge.

So if we are selling sheep, we could

take them over London Bridge

and someone would buy them. That

would be fun.

From the Middle Ages to Victorian

times,

it was a right that really meant

something.

The City has always been about trade

and one of the most important

markets is insurance.

Lloyds of London insure almost

anything no doubt including sheep.

It's an extraordinary place,

started when people got together in

Edward Lloyd's coffee shop

over 300 years ago to share the risks

of ships' journeys.

And the brokers still have little

stools as if in a coffee house

for passing customers to pull up and

chat about business.

We underwrite satellites.

The biggest one we had a loss on was

$406 million.

We had a loss of $406 million

earlier this year.

- What? It just crashed to Earth?

- The rocket failed.

It returned back to Earth and yes,

that's it.

- Insurers have to pay out. That's

what we're here for. - Of course.

The higher the risk, the higher the

reward presumably.

For a typical $400 million

satellite,

premiums would be something of the

order of $40 million.

- $40 million. That's 10% per year.

- Roughly.

After the indemnity. Gosh.

- It's eye-watering sums of money.

- We're not just writing space here.

We write marine; we write energy; we

write aircraft.

We write aviation. We write lots of

different risks.

And the idea is that across all of

those lines of business,

you wouldn't expect all of them to

fail in any one year.

So one offsets the other.

Jonathan.

My particular speciality is insuring

people.

We do the body parts insurance.

Certain athletes.

Excluded parts from other insurers.

So you might... Whether it was David

Beckham's toes

or feet or something like that.

The other things are actresses'

breasts.

- Foot models. - You'll take the left

and a partner will take the right!

It's quite serious in as much as if a

big popstar insures the voice....

- You have to consider...

- The multiples of present earnings

that can be dependent upon a voice

can get into enormous numbers

when you're talking about highly

paid entertainers.

What do you specialise in in

underwriting? What are you into?

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