GERALD Ratner, the businessman famed for sabotaging his jewellery empire with a foolish comment, will be in Salisbury to talk about his successful return to the world of retail at the Big Business Event in April.

Ratner took over as CEO of the family jewellery chain in the mid 80s, becoming one of Britain’s best known businessmen.

He transformed it from 130 stores with sales of £13m, to a public company with 2,500 stores and sales of over £1.2bn. By 1990, Ratners was the world’s largest jewellery retailer with profits in excess of £120m.

Following a high profile gaffe in which he described one of the products sold in the stores as ‘total crap’, he spent 18 months trying to do damage control.

He was eventually forced out of the business.

He lost everything and was reduced to staying in, watching Countdown in the afternoons, depressed, ostracised and bewildered.

He tried to buy a site to start a health club in Henley but no bank would back him as he had no covenant.

That is until he devised an ingenious way of raising some capital.

Gerald eventually bought and developed the health club then sold it three years later for £3.9m.

This was the start of his comeback.

He then started his online jewellery business after a fellow jeweller did some market research showing Ratners was still, over 10 years after the event, the most publicly-recognised name in jewellery retailing.

However, he was blocked from using his own name by his old company and had to settle for GeraldOnline which today is turning over some £25m and is ready to go public.

His story can be heard at the Salisbury Big Business event on April 23, at 6pm.

The SBBE takes place from April 21 to 23 and bookings will begin on March 16 at salisburybigbusinessevent.co.uk.