Eyes down, everyone. Private banking, of course, has always been associated with the better sports, like polo, yachting and tennis.

So frankly, I was aghast to learn of an apparent penchant for bingo at C Hoare or, as elder generations used to know it, housie housie.

For the bank, which has been the private confidant to top toffs over the past three centuries, has become involved in a messy bankruptcy centred on Preston Guild Hall, up in Lancashire, the spiritual home of whippet racing and mushy peas.