Big Bang, as the 1986 reform of the London Stock Exchange was named, appeared to many at the time to be an exaggeration in terminology. With hindsight it was spot on.

Sir Nicholas Goodison, then chairman of the exchange, and Cecil Parkinson, trade secretary in the early 1980s, detonated a cosmic explosion that hurled matter in all directions at accelerating velocity. Their rather limited intention was to head off an investigation by the competition authorities. They did this by bringing to an end fixed commissions and the separation of broking and marketmaking, and by permitting corporate ownership.