Marked cards

Emmanuel 'Manoli' Olympitis has frequently been described by the press as not only a banker or businessman, but also a socialite and playboy. At a young age Manoli was successively a director of a London merchant bank, chief executive of a publicly listed financial services company, and executive chairman of one of the largest Lloyd's insurance brokers.

At fifty he became chairman of a well-known public company in the forefront of the e-commerce boom.

There were entrepreneurial excursions in New York and Los Angeles along the way.

During his undergraduate years he was a member of the British international fencing squad and a double Kent County fencing champion. Marked Cards is a live-wire account that features three decades of life in the fast lane, charting the ascent of a youthful financier who was simultaneously a fixture in London's social scene.

All work and all play makes for a delicious memoir, as this sparkling trove of memories reminds us. From the Swinging Sixties into the 1990s, the author details a glittering thirty years of star-studded anecdotes set in high-end hangouts all around the world accompanied by a string of glamorous girlfriends.

He recalls his life's twists and turns, the endless parties, and the high-stakes poker games.