| Will the real Peter Middleton please stand up. Is he the hero who gave Lloyd's of London a new lease of life? Is he the fanatical Chelsea supporter who briefly played power broker in the struggle for management control of the football club? Is he the former monk and motorcycle enthusiast who might have had a supporting role in Easy Rider? Is he the hard-nosed London head of a US investment bank that fell on hard times but is now back in rude health? Is he the chairman of BZW? "No. He's the one that pulls all that lovely crumpet," says a City bond trader who makes no attempt to disguise his envy. What was he talking about? Was he being serious? How many sides to Peter Middleton are there that we don't know about? Monk on a motor-bike Some of the Middleton myth has faded with the passage of time. It is more than 30 years since he was a monk. The high-powered motor-bikes have been put on the blocks following an accident. He is no longer a kingmaker at Chelsea: he resigned earlier this month after what appears to have been a major disagreement with feisty controlling shareholder Ken Bates who owns a 25% shareholding but speaks for another 39% held by Rysaffe, a privately owned Hong Kong-based trust company. |