When I heard that James Graham, one of Britain’s most celebrated playwrights, had chosen Fred Goodwin and the Royal Bank of Scotland as the subject of his new satire, Make It Happen, my heart skipped a beat. The story of the rise and fall of the world’s largest bank, combined with characters real and imagined, including the ghost of Adam Smith (played by Succession’s Brian Cox) sounds irresistible. And, apart from a Scottish connection going back to my earliest days in journalism, I’ve long been intrigued by Goodwin, the accountant who led RBS to ruin and Britain to the brink of financial disaster.
當我得知英國最著名的劇作家之一詹姆士•葛瑞姆(James Graham)將弗雷德•古德溫(Fred Goodwin)和蘇格蘭皇家銀行(Royal Bank of Scotland)作爲他新諷刺劇《成就一切》(Make It Happen)的主題時，我的心跳一瞬間加速。這家全球最大銀行的興衰故事，結合了真實與虛構的人物，包括由《繼承之戰》(Succession)中的布萊恩•考克斯(Brian Cox)飾演的亞當•史密斯(Adam Smith)幽靈，聽起來實在令人無法抗拒。除了我在新聞業早期與蘇格蘭的淵源外，我一直對弗雷德•古德溫(Fred Goodwin)這位會計師頗感興趣，他將蘇格蘭皇家銀行(Royal Bank of Scotland)帶向毀滅，令英國陷入金融災難的邊緣。