‘The Biggest Bankruptcy’

British bankruptcy history was made in 1978 by Mr. William Stern. The 43-year-old property dealer’s assets totaled £10,070. His total liabilities were in excess of £100,000,000.

Hearing the case in the London Bankruptcy Court, Mr. Alan Sales, the Official Receiver, said, ‘This bankruptcy has been described as the world’s biggest, but really it is a very ordinary bankruptcy with noughts at the end.’

— The Book of Heroic Failures: The Official Handbook of the Not Terribly Good Club of Great Britain, 1979