The son of an electrician from Paisley, he is the quintessential boy-done-good, startling his bosses with his command of detail when he was an accountant working on the collapsed bank BCCI.
"Negrotarians," as the writer and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston called Harlem's white patrons, were a diverse crew, full of good intentions, startling blind spots and astonishing self-confidence.
Neiman Marcus, for example, has also been selling luxury goods at startling discounts.
Good stories are startling.
The emotional heart of "Nymphomaniac" isn't the sex scenes but the conversations between Joe and her protector, which mix artful nonsense, curious semi-nonsense, and startling good sense in daunting profusion.
Cesarani's combination of clarity and nuance allows him to make good on a startling claim: "Unlike most previous narratives, this account contests whether Nazi anti-Jewish policy was systematic, consistent or even premeditated".
The first thing one noticed about the actor Djimon Hounsou on a recent afternoon was not his towering build or startling good looks: flawless dark skin, dimples and a smile worthy of a White Strips commercial.
It's a pleasant city, with bustling markets, elegant colonial-era boulevards, good bars, some startling modernist architecture and an ease and friendliness that will no doubt soon make it one of the most popular destinations in Asia.
More Flab," my colleague Eric Wilson wrote of how increasing numbers of underwear companies were toning down their advertising — flashing less flesh and featuring more realistically shaped models than the god-like specimens who flaunt their startling good looks from any number of billboards and bus shelters around the city.
