Only Sir Brian Williamson would have the gall to set sail for a two-week Mediterranean cruise just hours after lighting the fuse under the Liffe futures market and putting it up for sale. But, then, Williamson is rather cool: something of an outsider who is at once well connected to the establishment yet equally at home living it up at Glyndebourne, Annabel's or an Irish pub.

'It's his Irishness,' said one close friend. 'At heart there's just a bit of the Irish toff about him and it gives him a real freedom of spirit.' Right now, the debonair Williamson is relaxing on deck aboard a sumptuous yacht, probably sipping champagne and chuckling at the frenzy he has left behind, while mugging up on the military exploits of Wellington and Napoleon. Back home in London, his troops are fielding off the world's press eager to know who else, other than the London Stock Exchange, has bid or is going to bid for their much-sought-after futures and options market.