I just wanted to go to bed

'It went like that.

It wasn't so much that the market collapsed, it just disappeared. It was Armageddon, that dramatic. One day you are worth £130million - as I was - then it is gone.

We didn't see it coming. When it hit, it was like trying to turn round an oil tanker. I've never been through anything quite like it. Every day, you'd see "down another million here, a million there". You'd think things couldn't get any worse, then the phone would ring.

I didn't tell Anthea the extent of it, at first. Then it was obvious we were going down. I didn't want to talk about it at home. Anthea is always so up. Her way of dealing with stuff is to say: "Come on, it will get better."

I just wanted to go to bed. I'd go to bed at 9pm so I didn't have to face what was happening."

Grant Bovery, talking about the collapse of his property empire.