Sorry, mate," says Robert Earl,as he pushes open a door, sending a couple of electricians crashing to the ground. "We'll go round the other way - or we'll try." He grabs my arm and we retrace our steps, tip-toeing over tool boxes, cables, paint-pots. "As you can see, there's a lot happening butit's all coming together and it's going to be fabulous."

This is vintage Earl. In fact, this little scene and commentary tells you almost everything you need to know about the man who co-founded the Planet Hollywood restaurant chain and who became a billionaire when it floated in 1996. Which is to say that he's a specialist in crashing to the ground (two bankruptcies so far); that he's brilliant at picking himself up and finding an "other way" round; that there's always a "lot happening at the moment" and that he never knowingly undersells his "fabulous" projects.