WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.379 Welcome to the Deep Dive. We've got a really 00:00:03.379 --> 00:00:05.740 fascinating mission ahead of us today, perfectly 00:00:05.740 --> 00:00:08.720 custom tailored for you. We really do. Yeah, 00:00:08.779 --> 00:00:11.699 we are going to explore how a historical novel 00:00:11.699 --> 00:00:14.859 written over a century ago acts as a flawless 00:00:14.859 --> 00:00:18.320 mirror for modern financial chaos. It's incredible 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:21.039 how well it holds up. It is. We are taking a 00:00:21.039 --> 00:00:23.660 single concise article about a book and, you 00:00:23.660 --> 00:00:27.000 know, really extracting a massive lesson on human 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:29.980 psychology, the mechanics of economics and the 00:00:29.980 --> 00:00:32.079 invisible forces of trust that basically hold 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:34.079 our entire world together. Right. The glue of 00:00:34.079 --> 00:00:36.600 the financial system. Exactly. And the source 00:00:36.600 --> 00:00:38.579 material at the center of this whole exploration 00:00:38.579 --> 00:00:41.460 is Ovington's Bank. The classic. Yeah. It's a 00:00:41.460 --> 00:00:43.820 novel written in 1922 by the English historical 00:00:43.820 --> 00:00:46.340 novelist Stanley John Wayman. And it was originally 00:00:46.340 --> 00:00:50.369 published in London by John Murray. And it is 00:00:50.369 --> 00:00:54.009 a genuinely remarkable piece of literature to 00:00:54.009 --> 00:00:56.390 examine, primarily because of the historical 00:00:56.390 --> 00:00:59.490 foundation it rests on. At first glance, a summary 00:00:59.490 --> 00:01:02.090 of a book from the 1920s might seem like, well, 00:01:02.170 --> 00:01:03.909 just a straightforward literary review. Right. 00:01:04.049 --> 00:01:07.189 Just a standard fiction critique. Exactly. But 00:01:07.189 --> 00:01:09.489 when you look at the actual economic events this 00:01:09.489 --> 00:01:12.290 narrative is built upon, the story immediately 00:01:12.290 --> 00:01:15.359 transcends its era. It feels incredibly relevant 00:01:15.359 --> 00:01:18.040 to the complex financial headlines we navigate 00:01:18.040 --> 00:01:20.920 today. OK, let's untack this. Setting the stage 00:01:20.920 --> 00:01:23.680 here is crucial for you, the listener. We are 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:26.900 looking at a novel written in 1922, but the actual 00:01:26.900 --> 00:01:29.000 events of the story, the setting, take place 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:32.060 about 100 years before that publication date. 00:01:32.180 --> 00:01:34.680 Yeah, the historical backdrop is the engine of 00:01:34.680 --> 00:01:36.739 the entire narrative here. Right. The book is 00:01:36.739 --> 00:01:40.680 set immediately. before and during a very real, 00:01:40.760 --> 00:01:43.040 very catastrophic event known as the British 00:01:43.040 --> 00:01:47.859 Panic of 1825. 1825. Yes. And Wyman uses this 00:01:47.859 --> 00:01:50.239 precise moment in economic history to really 00:01:50.239 --> 00:01:52.379 drive his characters. And you have to understand 00:01:52.379 --> 00:01:54.920 the Panic of 1825 wasn't just a minor dip in 00:01:54.920 --> 00:01:56.900 the markets. No, not at all. It wasn't a regional 00:01:56.900 --> 00:01:59.560 slowdown. It was a massive systemic shock that 00:01:59.560 --> 00:02:01.500 fundamentally altered the landscape of British 00:02:01.500 --> 00:02:04.239 finance. And the cause of that systemic shock, 00:02:04.359 --> 00:02:06.099 well... This is where the story goes from being 00:02:06.099 --> 00:02:07.920 a dry history lesson to something that feels 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:11.000 almost too bizarre to be true. The real -world 00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:14.419 catalyst for the 1825 panic. which Wayman depicts 00:02:14.419 --> 00:02:17.520 in the novel, was a massive fraud involving something 00:02:17.520 --> 00:02:21.500 called Poyais. Poyais. Yeah. Now, Poyais sounds 00:02:21.500 --> 00:02:24.120 like it could be, I don't know, a tropical export 00:02:24.120 --> 00:02:26.840 or maybe a controversial colonial trading company. 00:02:27.099 --> 00:02:29.539 Sure, it sounds official. But it wasn't. Poyais 00:02:29.539 --> 00:02:32.539 was an entirely invented South American country. 00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:35.120 Completely fake. An entire sovereign nation, 00:02:35.300 --> 00:02:38.080 completely made up out of thin air. The foundation 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:41.939 of this massive economic panic was built on absolute 00:02:41.939 --> 00:02:44.020 fiction. It's hard to wrap your head around. 00:02:44.199 --> 00:02:46.979 It really is. The architect of this scheme, a 00:02:46.979 --> 00:02:49.560 man named Gregor McGregor, essentially drew a 00:02:49.560 --> 00:02:52.800 map. forged some documents, and convinced the 00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:55.060 financial establishment of London that he was 00:02:55.060 --> 00:02:57.860 the cazique or prince of this incredibly resource 00:02:57.860 --> 00:03:00.259 -rich nation. Just walked in and said, hey, I'm 00:03:00.259 --> 00:03:02.900 a prince. Pretty much. And he issued land grants 00:03:02.900 --> 00:03:05.039 and government bonds for a place that simply 00:03:05.039 --> 00:03:07.360 did not exist. I want to frame this for you in 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:09.560 a modern context because it is so tempting to 00:03:09.560 --> 00:03:12.000 look back at the 1820s and assume people were 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:13.960 just naive. Rather, they didn't know any better. 00:03:14.250 --> 00:03:17.430 Exactly. But think about modern corporate frauds. 00:03:17.430 --> 00:03:21.069 Think about Enron or Theranos or even buying 00:03:21.069 --> 00:03:24.150 real estate in a fake cryptocurrency metaverse. 00:03:24.150 --> 00:03:26.650 Oh, that's a perfect analogy. Right. In those 00:03:26.650 --> 00:03:29.810 modern cases, you had highly sophisticated investors, 00:03:30.349 --> 00:03:33.770 seasoned journalists, veteran board members buying 00:03:33.770 --> 00:03:36.409 into a highly polished illusion. Because they 00:03:36.409 --> 00:03:38.870 wanted it to be true. Exactly. Why do they fall 00:03:38.870 --> 00:03:41.169 for it? Because the brochures looked right. The 00:03:41.169 --> 00:03:43.610 paperwork seemed official. And most importantly, 00:03:43.870 --> 00:03:46.849 the promise of massive financial returns completely 00:03:46.849 --> 00:03:49.750 blinded their standard due diligence. The greed 00:03:49.750 --> 00:03:51.930 takes over. People wanted to believe the hype. 00:03:52.069 --> 00:03:54.370 And that is essentially what happened in 1825 00:03:54.370 --> 00:03:57.680 with Poirier. Sophisticated bankers bought into 00:03:57.680 --> 00:04:00.259 a total illusion because the promised yields 00:04:00.259 --> 00:04:02.780 were just too good to ignore. And the fallout 00:04:02.780 --> 00:04:04.979 from that collective suspension of disbelief 00:04:04.979 --> 00:04:07.460 was devastating. Catastrophic. As a direct result 00:04:07.460 --> 00:04:10.319 of this massive fraud collapsing, about 70 banks 00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:13.139 failed. 70. 70. And when you consider the structure 00:04:13.139 --> 00:04:15.360 of banking in the early 19th century, wiping 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:18.459 out 70 regional and local institutions is a devastating 00:04:18.459 --> 00:04:20.939 loss of capital. Because they weren't big national 00:04:20.939 --> 00:04:23.480 chains back then. Right. They weren't these massive, 00:04:23.560 --> 00:04:26.620 diversified global conglomerates. They were highly 00:04:26.620 --> 00:04:29.839 interconnected local entities. So if one falls. 00:04:30.120 --> 00:04:33.000 Exactly. When trust evaporated in one corner 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:35.420 of the market, the contagion spread rapidly, 00:04:35.579 --> 00:04:38.160 taking down dozens of institutions that relied 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:41.689 on that shared ecosystem of credit. It is. wild 00:04:41.689 --> 00:04:44.230 to realize that the collapse of this one elaborate 00:04:44.230 --> 00:04:47.350 scheme took down 70 banks. What's fascinating 00:04:47.350 --> 00:04:49.889 here is how Stanley John Wyman chooses to explore 00:04:49.889 --> 00:04:52.509 this tragedy in his novel. Right. The literary 00:04:52.509 --> 00:04:55.230 angle. He doesn't just write a macro level historical 00:04:55.230 --> 00:04:57.730 account of bond yields and London trading floors. 00:04:57.930 --> 00:05:00.389 He drops his two fictional English communities 00:05:00.389 --> 00:05:03.509 named Aldersbury and Garth right into the absolute 00:05:03.509 --> 00:05:06.829 middle of this economic wreckage. He personalizes 00:05:06.829 --> 00:05:09.730 the macro economics. Yes. He shows the reader 00:05:09.730 --> 00:05:11.949 what the collapse of those 70 banks actually 00:05:11.949 --> 00:05:14.410 looked like on the ground. The human cost. Exactly. 00:05:14.769 --> 00:05:17.029 By setting the story in these provincial towns, 00:05:17.209 --> 00:05:19.410 Wyman captures the tension in the living rooms, 00:05:19.550 --> 00:05:21.709 the counting houses, and the streets where everyday 00:05:21.709 --> 00:05:23.750 people suddenly realize their perceived wealth 00:05:23.750 --> 00:05:26.540 might just be paper. Which brings us to the core 00:05:26.540 --> 00:05:30.160 conflict of the novel. Wayman uses this financial 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:33.939 disaster to highlight a massive societal clash 00:05:33.939 --> 00:05:36.339 that was brewing at the time. A huge cultural 00:05:36.339 --> 00:05:39.180 shift. Right. On one side you have the old established 00:05:39.180 --> 00:05:42.180 rural gentry. These are the traditional aristocrats. 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:45.240 The old guard. Their entire wealth, status, and 00:05:45.240 --> 00:05:48.439 worldview are drawn from inheriting and exploiting 00:05:48.439 --> 00:05:51.500 large rural land estates. And on the opposing 00:05:51.500 --> 00:05:55.220 side you have the striving Newly emerging business 00:05:55.220 --> 00:05:57.540 classes. The new money. This is the new money. 00:05:57.680 --> 00:05:59.860 Yeah. These are the people whose wealth and power 00:05:59.860 --> 00:06:02.920 are fueled not by soil and inheritance, but by 00:06:02.920 --> 00:06:06.019 banking, commerce and industry. It's a total 00:06:06.019 --> 00:06:08.399 paradigm shift. Wayman is capturing a profound 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:11.569 shift in how British society operated. Wealth 00:06:11.569 --> 00:06:14.230 was transitioning from the static, visible ownership 00:06:14.230 --> 00:06:17.470 of land to the dynamic, invisible and sometimes 00:06:17.470 --> 00:06:20.529 highly volatile flow of liquid capital. It is 00:06:20.529 --> 00:06:22.589 the ultimate showdown of old wealth versus new 00:06:22.589 --> 00:06:24.430 ambition. You can almost picture the tension 00:06:24.430 --> 00:06:26.829 in the fictional town of Aldersbury. Oh, absolutely. 00:06:27.089 --> 00:06:29.069 The landowners are looking down their noses at 00:06:29.069 --> 00:06:31.350 the bankers because they view commerce as somewhat 00:06:31.350 --> 00:06:34.470 vulgar. Right. Meanwhile, the bankers realize 00:06:34.470 --> 00:06:36.810 they are the ones actually holding the keys to 00:06:36.810 --> 00:06:39.600 the future. I know one historical analysis points 00:06:39.600 --> 00:06:42.160 out that Ovington's Bank is recognized as a notable 00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:45.019 attempt to depict how urbanization and reform 00:06:45.019 --> 00:06:48.379 politics shaped the broad outlines of the Victorian 00:06:48.379 --> 00:06:50.980 world. Yes, that's a very famous commentary on 00:06:50.980 --> 00:06:53.639 the text. But the term reform politics can feel 00:06:53.639 --> 00:06:57.019 a bit dense. What does that actually mean in 00:06:57.019 --> 00:07:00.040 the context of this clash? It is a crucial piece 00:07:00.040 --> 00:07:03.769 of context. In this era, reform politics was 00:07:03.769 --> 00:07:05.970 essentially the battle to shift political power 00:07:05.970 --> 00:07:09.750 away from the old, inherited rural aristocracies 00:07:09.750 --> 00:07:12.069 and toward the rapidly growing industrial cities. 00:07:12.189 --> 00:07:14.370 Because the demographics were changing? Rapidly. 00:07:14.370 --> 00:07:16.829 For centuries, power in Britain was tied to owning 00:07:16.829 --> 00:07:19.250 massive tracts of land. But as the Industrial 00:07:19.250 --> 00:07:22.269 Revolution accelerated, cities exploded in population 00:07:22.269 --> 00:07:24.750 and economic output, yet they had very little 00:07:24.750 --> 00:07:27.230 political representation. So the wealth moved, 00:07:27.490 --> 00:07:29.949 but the voting power didn't. Exactly. The new 00:07:29.949 --> 00:07:32.149 bankers, merchants, and industrialists wanted 00:07:32.149 --> 00:07:34.129 a seat at the table that reflected their new 00:07:34.129 --> 00:07:36.430 economic muscle. And I imagine the landowners 00:07:36.430 --> 00:07:39.829 didn't just hand it over. Not at all. The old 00:07:39.829 --> 00:07:42.550 guard thought bitterly to keep them out. Wyman's 00:07:42.550 --> 00:07:45.209 novel isn't just a melodrama about money. It's 00:07:45.209 --> 00:07:47.930 capturing the exact moment the tectonic plates 00:07:47.930 --> 00:07:51.069 of British society shifted from agrarian dominance 00:07:51.069 --> 00:07:54.220 to industrial capitalism. That transition was 00:07:54.220 --> 00:07:57.879 incredibly messy and fiercely contested. But 00:07:57.879 --> 00:08:00.480 even with all these heavy world -changing themes 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:04.019 of urbanization and class warfare, Wayman anchors 00:08:04.019 --> 00:08:06.709 the book with a very conventional plot. He really 00:08:06.709 --> 00:08:09.209 does. He doesn't write a textbook. He gives readers 00:08:09.209 --> 00:08:12.050 character -driven drama. Amidst all this societal 00:08:12.050 --> 00:08:14.689 upheaval and banking collapse, the book essentially 00:08:14.689 --> 00:08:17.629 champions honesty and love as the ultimate tools 00:08:17.629 --> 00:08:20.069 to overcome pride and prejudice. It's very human. 00:08:20.310 --> 00:08:22.269 It argues that personal integrity is the only 00:08:22.269 --> 00:08:24.829 real anchor when the societal and economic structures 00:08:24.829 --> 00:08:27.209 around you are falling apart. Because the characters 00:08:27.209 --> 00:08:29.670 are so entrenched in their ways. Right. The old 00:08:29.670 --> 00:08:31.730 gentry are blinded by their pride and their lineage, 00:08:31.910 --> 00:08:33.789 and the new bankers are defensive because of 00:08:33.789 --> 00:08:36.590 the prejudice they face. Wayman uses fundamental 00:08:36.590 --> 00:08:39.289 human virtues to bridge that massive societal 00:08:39.289 --> 00:08:41.789 gap. Here's where it gets really interesting. 00:08:42.149 --> 00:08:44.610 We have been talking about the collapse of 70 00:08:44.610 --> 00:08:48.090 banks and the sheer panic of 1825. The Poyais 00:08:48.090 --> 00:08:51.710 fallout. Right. But Wayman makes a very specific, 00:08:51.850 --> 00:08:54.590 critical point about the fictional Ovington's 00:08:54.590 --> 00:08:57.879 Bank itself. The twist is that Ovington's Bank 00:08:57.879 --> 00:09:01.120 wasn't a bad bank. No, it wasn't. It wasn't run 00:09:01.120 --> 00:09:03.340 by reckless gamblers who bought into the Poyais 00:09:03.340 --> 00:09:06.240 fraud. The text heavily stresses that Ovington 00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:09.120 ran his business very carefully. Very diligently. 00:09:09.340 --> 00:09:12.320 One analysis we reviewed highlights that Ovington's 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:15.820 Bank was, in fact, solvent. Amply solved. Amply 00:09:15.820 --> 00:09:18.639 solved. The math was sound. The ledgers were 00:09:18.639 --> 00:09:21.240 balanced. The loans they had issued were backed 00:09:21.240 --> 00:09:23.720 by real assets, not fictional South American 00:09:23.720 --> 00:09:25.399 countries. So they didn't do anything wrong. 00:09:25.639 --> 00:09:27.940 If everyone had just stayed home and done nothing. 00:09:28.640 --> 00:09:30.840 Ovington's bank would have survived the 1825 00:09:30.840 --> 00:09:33.500 panic perfectly fine. I am curious, though, if 00:09:33.500 --> 00:09:36.279 the bank was amply solvent, how does it still 00:09:36.279 --> 00:09:38.700 end up fighting for its life? How does a good 00:09:38.700 --> 00:09:40.919 bank fail just because bad banks are failing? 00:09:41.100 --> 00:09:43.440 That gets to the very heart of fractional reserve 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:45.700 banking, which is how modern banking still works 00:09:45.700 --> 00:09:48.200 today. The fundamental mechanic. Right. When 00:09:48.200 --> 00:09:51.519 you deposit gold or cash into a bank, the bank 00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:53.360 doesn't just put it in a box with your name on 00:09:53.360 --> 00:09:55.279 it. They don't just lock it in a vault. They 00:09:55.279 --> 00:09:57.639 keep a fraction of it in reserve. And they lend 00:09:57.639 --> 00:10:00.659 the rest out to businesses, to farmers, to industrialists 00:10:00.659 --> 00:10:05.240 to grow the economy. To make a profit. Yes. Because 00:10:05.240 --> 00:10:07.980 Ovington's bank is solvent, those loans are good. 00:10:08.059 --> 00:10:10.820 The money will come back with interest. But it 00:10:10.820 --> 00:10:13.679 is currently tied up in the real economy. It 00:10:13.679 --> 00:10:16.639 isn't sitting in the vault as liquid cash. So 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:19.899 a bank run isn't a math problem. It's an information 00:10:19.899 --> 00:10:23.129 and liquidity problem. Precisely. And it's driven 00:10:23.129 --> 00:10:26.110 entirely by information asymmetry. What the customers 00:10:26.110 --> 00:10:28.330 don't know. Right. The customers don't have access 00:10:28.330 --> 00:10:30.210 to Ovington's ledgers. They don't know the math 00:10:30.210 --> 00:10:32.809 is sound. All they know is that 70 other banks 00:10:32.809 --> 00:10:35.330 are collapsing. The panic is in the air. The 00:10:35.330 --> 00:10:37.850 text notes that despite the bank being amply 00:10:37.850 --> 00:10:40.450 solvent, the customers would rush in at the first 00:10:40.450 --> 00:10:43.750 alarm like a flock of silly sheep, each bent 00:10:43.750 --> 00:10:47.539 on his own safety, blindly on ruin. That phrasing, 00:10:47.559 --> 00:10:49.899 like a flock of silly sheep, is so evocative. 00:10:49.940 --> 00:10:51.740 I want you to put yourself in that scenario for 00:10:51.740 --> 00:10:53.639 a moment. It's a terrifying thought. Imagine 00:10:53.639 --> 00:10:56.320 standing in the cobblestone streets of the fictional 00:10:56.320 --> 00:10:59.940 town of Aldersbury in 1825. You hear a rumor. 00:11:00.200 --> 00:11:03.100 You see your neighbor sprinting toward Ovington's 00:11:03.100 --> 00:11:06.360 bank. And you panic. You know Ovington is a careful 00:11:06.360 --> 00:11:09.879 man. You know the bank is probably fine. But 00:11:09.879 --> 00:11:13.100 panic is a deeply contagious emotion. It relies 00:11:13.100 --> 00:11:16.259 on game theory. The prisoner's dilemma. Exactly. 00:11:16.620 --> 00:11:19.320 If everyone else is withdrawing their gold and 00:11:19.320 --> 00:11:21.620 the bank only holds a fraction of its deposits 00:11:21.620 --> 00:11:24.379 in liquid reserve, the first people in line get 00:11:24.379 --> 00:11:26.799 their money. The last people in line get nothing. 00:11:27.159 --> 00:11:29.740 The vault runs dry. If you wait for the facts, 00:11:29.899 --> 00:11:32.539 you lose everything. So you run too. You join 00:11:32.539 --> 00:11:35.220 the flock. The panic becomes a self -fulfilling 00:11:35.220 --> 00:11:37.740 prophecy. It causes the very thing it fears. 00:11:38.440 --> 00:11:40.639 The collective fear of a collapse is exactly 00:11:40.639 --> 00:11:43.159 what causes the solvent bank to collapse because 00:11:43.159 --> 00:11:46.139 no bank holds 100 % of its deposits in the vault. 00:11:46.299 --> 00:11:48.539 They just can't. Wayman understood that human 00:11:48.539 --> 00:11:51.100 psychology, specifically our primal instinct 00:11:51.100 --> 00:11:53.360 for self -preservation in the face of uncertainty, 00:11:53.659 --> 00:11:56.240 is the greatest and most dangerous variable in 00:11:56.240 --> 00:11:58.639 any economic system. That timeless psychology 00:11:58.639 --> 00:12:01.200 perfectly explains the incredible publication 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:03.960 timeline of this story and why we are still talking 00:12:03.960 --> 00:12:06.620 about it today. The dates are fascinating. Let's 00:12:06.620 --> 00:12:08.980 look at the dates here. The events of the story 00:12:08.980 --> 00:12:13.019 take place during the Panic of 1825. But Stanley 00:12:13.019 --> 00:12:15.240 John Wyman doesn't write the novel until nearly 00:12:15.240 --> 00:12:18.799 a century later, publishing it in 1922. Right. 00:12:18.940 --> 00:12:22.100 Why did he wait until 1922 to write about a crisis 00:12:22.100 --> 00:12:24.379 from the 1820s? Was there something happening 00:12:24.379 --> 00:12:27.200 in his own time that mirrored those events? If 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:30.120 we connect this to the bigger picture, the 1920s 00:12:30.120 --> 00:12:32.600 were a period of immense turbulence and transition. 00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:35.659 Post -war Britain. Yes. Britain was reeling from 00:12:35.659 --> 00:12:38.000 the aftermath of the First World War. The old 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:40.360 aristocratic structures were crumbling rapidly 00:12:40.360 --> 00:12:43.200 and new forms of wealth and industry were taking 00:12:43.200 --> 00:12:46.330 over. Sound familiar. Exactly. The economy was 00:12:46.330 --> 00:12:49.309 volatile and the public was anxious. Women likely 00:12:49.309 --> 00:12:51.830 looked around at the societal shifts and economic 00:12:51.830 --> 00:12:55.009 fears of 1922 and realized that the perfect way 00:12:55.009 --> 00:12:57.470 to explore them was through the lens of 1825. 00:12:57.809 --> 00:13:00.070 He used history as a filter. Historical fiction 00:13:00.070 --> 00:13:02.549 allowed him to comment on the anxieties of his 00:13:02.549 --> 00:13:05.309 own time with the safety and perspective of distance. 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:08.440 And that mirror effect didn't just stay in 1922. 00:13:08.759 --> 00:13:11.179 The publication history of this novel reveals 00:13:11.179 --> 00:13:14.100 something profound about how we process economic 00:13:14.100 --> 00:13:16.720 trauma today. It really does. Ovington's Bank 00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:19.059 has experienced a significant modern resurgence. 00:13:19.259 --> 00:13:21.980 It was republished in paperback in 2012 and then 00:13:21.980 --> 00:13:24.600 again in 2015. The context of those specific 00:13:24.600 --> 00:13:27.419 dates is impossible to ignore. Very telling. 00:13:27.679 --> 00:13:30.039 Those republications happened in the direct wake 00:13:30.039 --> 00:13:33.500 of the 2008 global financial crisis. The subprime 00:13:33.500 --> 00:13:36.519 mortgage collapse. Furthermore. In 2018, a brand 00:13:36.519 --> 00:13:38.860 new hardback edition was released, and this one 00:13:38.860 --> 00:13:41.960 featured a robust 24 -page critical biography 00:13:41.960 --> 00:13:44.860 of Wayman. Which shows a serious academic interest. 00:13:45.179 --> 00:13:48.399 This raises an important question. Why? Why do 00:13:48.399 --> 00:13:50.440 modern readers who are living through complex, 00:13:50.679 --> 00:13:53.320 algorithm -driven, subprime mortgage crises and 00:13:53.320 --> 00:13:55.779 digital banking collapses suddenly seek out a 00:13:55.779 --> 00:13:59.799 1922 novel about an 1825 banking crisis? It seems 00:13:59.799 --> 00:14:02.279 disconnected at first. But the underlying mechanism 00:14:02.279 --> 00:14:05.120 of the disaster is exactly the same. The technology 00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:08.340 changes, but the people don't. Right. We move 00:14:08.340 --> 00:14:11.120 from quill pens and forged parchment to high 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:13.519 -frequency trading and collateralized debt obligations, 00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:17.720 but the selly sheep remain. We still flock. Reading 00:14:17.720 --> 00:14:20.980 about Ovington's Bank gives people a way to process 00:14:20.980 --> 00:14:24.000 the madness of recent financial crises through 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:26.539 the safety of historical fiction. It's comforting 00:14:26.539 --> 00:14:28.659 in a way. When you are in the middle of a modern 00:14:28.659 --> 00:14:31.320 financial collapse, it feels entirely unprecedented. 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:33.799 It feels like the end of the world. Like 2008 00:14:33.799 --> 00:14:36.840 felt. But when you read Wayman's depiction of 00:14:36.840 --> 00:14:40.559 1825, you realize these are cyclical, predictable 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:44.120 patterns of human behavior. Seeing the old wealth 00:14:44.120 --> 00:14:47.240 clashing with new ambition, watching people fall 00:14:47.240 --> 00:14:49.379 for the illusion of value like the fake country 00:14:49.379 --> 00:14:51.919 of Poyais, and witnessing the contagious nature 00:14:51.919 --> 00:14:55.019 of a bank run a century ago reassures the modern 00:14:55.019 --> 00:14:56.580 reader. It's a reminder that we've been here 00:14:56.580 --> 00:14:58.980 before. It reminds us that society has survived 00:14:58.980 --> 00:15:01.139 these fractures before. That cyclical resonance 00:15:01.139 --> 00:15:03.379 is likely why the story didn't just survive in 00:15:03.379 --> 00:15:06.059 print. The dramatic tension between the classes 00:15:06.059 --> 00:15:08.559 and the sheer psychological terror of the bank 00:15:08.559 --> 00:15:11.240 run translated beautifully to other mediums. 00:15:11.259 --> 00:15:13.220 Oh, this is one of my favorite parts of the research. 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:17.100 It translated so well that in 1965, the BBC decided 00:15:17.100 --> 00:15:20.200 to serialize it for television. A major production. 00:15:20.539 --> 00:15:23.100 They adapted Wayman's novel into a televised 00:15:23.100 --> 00:15:26.360 series titled Heiress of Garth. Translating a 00:15:26.360 --> 00:15:28.960 story like this to the screen in the 1960s was 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:32.019 a brilliant move. Why is that? Because the visual 00:15:32.019 --> 00:15:35.720 medium allows an audience to physically see the 00:15:35.720 --> 00:15:38.240 stark contrasts that Wayman was writing about. 00:15:38.360 --> 00:15:41.120 Ah, the visual storytelling. You can visually 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:44.139 juxtapose the muddy riding boots and fading grand 00:15:44.139 --> 00:15:47.000 estates of the old rural aristocrats with the 00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:49.820 pristine ledgers, sharp suits, and bustling counting 00:15:49.820 --> 00:15:52.279 houses of the new bankers. You don't have to 00:15:52.279 --> 00:15:54.580 explain the class divide, you just show it. The 00:15:54.580 --> 00:15:57.059 tension is no longer just on the page. It's visible 00:15:57.059 --> 00:15:59.379 in the set design and the posture of the actors. 00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:01.820 It was a substantial commitment by the BBC, too. 00:16:01.980 --> 00:16:05.460 They produced six 25 -minute episodes. That's 00:16:05.460 --> 00:16:07.460 a lot of screen time for a historical drama back 00:16:07.460 --> 00:16:10.200 then. Just imagine tuning in over six weeks in 00:16:10.200 --> 00:16:13.940 1965 to watch this 1825 banking disaster unfold. 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:16.600 Directed by Patti Russell, right? Yes, directed 00:16:16.600 --> 00:16:19.200 by Patti Russell, with writing by Anthony Coburn 00:16:19.200 --> 00:16:22.440 and story editing by Betty Willingale. And the 00:16:22.440 --> 00:16:25.500 cast was stellar. They had Bernard Archer, William 00:16:25.500 --> 00:16:28.500 Mervin. June Ritchie. Mary Webster and David 00:16:28.500 --> 00:16:30.440 Weston were in it too, I believe. They were. 00:16:30.580 --> 00:16:32.840 It must have been incredibly gripping to see 00:16:32.840 --> 00:16:36.179 the psychology of that bank run dramatized. To 00:16:36.179 --> 00:16:38.559 watch the rumors spread from neighbor to neighbor 00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:41.100 and to see the panic physically manifest in a 00:16:41.100 --> 00:16:43.639 crowd rushing the bank doors. It really brings 00:16:43.639 --> 00:16:46.240 the fear to life. It proves how compelling the 00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:48.620 underlying story truly is, regardless of whether 00:16:48.620 --> 00:16:50.820 it's read in 1922 or watched on a television 00:16:50.820 --> 00:16:53.759 set in the mid -60s. The fact that the narrative 00:16:53.759 --> 00:16:58.580 succeeds as a 1922 novel, a 1965 television series, 00:16:58.779 --> 00:17:02.480 and a post -2008 republished text speaks volumes 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:05.079 about the universality of its themes. It's timeless. 00:17:05.400 --> 00:17:07.380 Wayman captures something fundamentally true 00:17:07.380 --> 00:17:10.119 and unchangeable about how human beings interact 00:17:10.119 --> 00:17:13.160 with money, status, and fear. So what does this 00:17:13.160 --> 00:17:15.420 all mean? That's the big question. When we zoom 00:17:15.420 --> 00:17:17.299 out and look at the scope of this deep dive, 00:17:17.420 --> 00:17:19.579 it becomes clear that Ovington's Bank is so much 00:17:19.579 --> 00:17:22.319 more than an old book collecting dust. Far from 00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:25.859 it. It is a perfectly preserved case study. It 00:17:25.859 --> 00:17:28.920 details how an entirely invented fictional country 00:17:28.920 --> 00:17:32.279 can trigger the collapse of 70 real world regional 00:17:32.279 --> 00:17:35.299 banks. The Poirier's illusion. It documents the 00:17:35.299 --> 00:17:38.279 painful, inevitable political and social clash 00:17:38.279 --> 00:17:41.559 between old agricultural land and new industrial 00:17:41.559 --> 00:17:44.430 power. the reform politics we discussed. And 00:17:44.430 --> 00:17:47.130 most importantly, it holds up a harsh mirror 00:17:47.130 --> 00:17:50.410 to the timeless silly sheet mentality, the information 00:17:50.410 --> 00:17:53.529 asymmetry and game theory that drives every financial 00:17:53.529 --> 00:17:56.009 panic in human history. The most crucial takeaway 00:17:56.009 --> 00:17:58.309 here is that understanding these historical mechanics 00:17:58.309 --> 00:18:01.349 is essential in our modern world, especially 00:18:01.349 --> 00:18:04.049 in a landscape defined by rapid information and 00:18:04.049 --> 00:18:05.890 complex financial instruments. Because it moves 00:18:05.890 --> 00:18:09.049 faster now. much faster. We are bombarded daily 00:18:09.049 --> 00:18:12.190 with market speculation, new economic paradigms, 00:18:12.250 --> 00:18:14.890 and promises of unprecedented returns. Always 00:18:14.890 --> 00:18:17.329 a new bubble. Recognizing the patterns that Wayman 00:18:17.329 --> 00:18:19.730 wrote about the irrational exuberance that blinds 00:18:19.730 --> 00:18:22.230 due diligence, the friction of shifting societal 00:18:22.230 --> 00:18:25.109 classes, and the sudden devastating evaporation 00:18:25.109 --> 00:18:28.390 of trust helps us actively question our own assumptions. 00:18:28.509 --> 00:18:31.390 It's a defense mechanism. Exactly. When the next 00:18:31.390 --> 00:18:34.369 major market panic inevitably arises, Having 00:18:34.369 --> 00:18:37.009 this historical context allows us to step back. 00:18:37.289 --> 00:18:39.589 It allows us to ask whether we are making decisions 00:18:39.589 --> 00:18:42.730 based on sound reality and actual solvency, or 00:18:42.730 --> 00:18:44.730 if we are simply running with the flock because 00:18:44.730 --> 00:18:46.829 we are afraid to be the last one in line. That 00:18:46.829 --> 00:18:48.930 is a powerful framework to keep in mind. And 00:18:48.930 --> 00:18:51.230 that brings us to the end of our exploration 00:18:51.230 --> 00:18:53.569 today. It's been a great discussion. But before 00:18:53.569 --> 00:18:56.430 we go, I want to leave you with one final provocative 00:18:56.430 --> 00:18:59.559 thought to mull over on your own. We've seen 00:18:59.559 --> 00:19:02.819 how sophisticated bankers in 1825 were blinded 00:19:02.819 --> 00:19:05.099 by the promise of returns, allowing an entirely 00:19:05.099 --> 00:19:09.099 fictional made up country called Poyas to trigger 00:19:09.099 --> 00:19:12.599 a massive real world economic collapse. A total 00:19:12.599 --> 00:19:15.240 fabrication. Given the complex digital nature 00:19:15.240 --> 00:19:17.559 of modern finance, where value is increasingly 00:19:17.559 --> 00:19:20.799 tied to code, speculation and shared belief, 00:19:21.059 --> 00:19:24.200 what invisible collective illusions are we blindly 00:19:24.200 --> 00:19:26.440 trusting to hold up our financial systems today? 00:19:26.619 --> 00:19:28.630 It is a question that requires us to look. very 00:19:28.630 --> 00:19:31.049 closely at where we place our trust. Thank you 00:19:31.049 --> 00:19:33.109 so much for joining us on this deep dive. We 00:19:33.109 --> 00:19:35.430 appreciate your curiosity and we can't wait to 00:19:35.430 --> 00:19:36.829 explore the next topic with you.