Now, if he’s honest, Mr Marchan didn’t notice very much when Lehman’s fell apart with billions of dollars of losses. The collapse saw 25,000 bankers dumped on the street with cardboard boxes full of their belongings - 4,500 left their jobs at its European headquarters in Canary Wharf, London.

The world - or the part of it which was slowly realising what all this could mean - looked on aghast as a once golden goose of the globally interconnected, hyper-financial system turned to dust.

High finance - that multi-trillion pound cloud that swirled around the world every day - was built on confidence and trust. What was to happen when that trust broke down?

Earl Marchan just got on with his job, like millions of other people unaware of the fire beginning to rage.

“If it doesn’t directly affect you, you’re oblivious to it,” he says, looking back now, 10 years on. “Which makes me feel a bit naive.

“I didn’t see it coming and I don’t think anyone would’ve thought it would have had that big an effect.

“But saying that - once you’re in a recession you’ve got to be in a recession for at least 10 years, haven't you?

“There is no quick fix in a recession, with every growth, you peak and then boom, you've got to plummet haven’t you?”

And, boy, did the world plummet.