MERVYN KING may have had a tough time facing the Commons Treasury committee last week but it was not the first sweaty encounter he has endured.

Two years ago he and Sir Gus O’Donnell, the cabinet secretary, both keen tennis players, were invited to Eastbourne to play an exhibition match to mark the 30th anniversary of the ladies’ tennis tournament there.

Partnering King was Martina Hingis, former Wimbledon champion. With O’Donnell was Jana Novotna, the Czech player, another Wimbledon champion. The match was a success, though King recalled when presented with a video of the game he could not work out who the two elderly men lumbering around the court were.

Sport is important to King. He is a vice-president of Aston Villa and a patron of Worcestershire County Cricket Club. Last year he helped organise former England cricketer Graeme Hick’s testimonial.

He uses sporting analogies to explain what the Bank of England is trying to do, including the “Maradona theory” of monetary policy, after the Argentinian footballer.

King studied at King’s College Cambridge, where his tutorial partner was Peter Kellner, the psephologist, chairman of YouGov, the pollsters. After that, only one career beckoned, that of a university economist. He was awarded a Kennedy scholarship to Harvard, before returning to Cambridge.

At 29, he went back to his native Midlands with a professorship at Birmingham University. While there, he joined 363 other economists in signing the 1981 letter attacking Margaret Thatcher’s economic policies. A glittering academic career followed, with a professorship at the London School of Economics and visiting professorships at Harvard and MIT.

Lord George - Eddie George – his predecessor as governor, has suggested King could have won a Nobel prize in economics. When he was at MIT the neighbouring office was occupied by none other than Ben Bernanke, the Fed chairman, who delighted the markets by cutting interest rates last week.

Neither probably expected to end up where they are. Before he joined the Bank of England, King was known, among other things, for his expertise on tax, having co-written the definitive text on Britain’s tax system with fellow economist John Kay.

He was recruited to the Bank as chief economist in 1991 and endured its humiliation at the hands of speculators on Black Wednesday, September 16, 1992, when the pound tumbled out of Europe’s exchange-rate mechanism.

Out of that came King’s opportunity. Norman Lamont, the chancellor, opted for an inflation target and King was given the role of masterminding the Bank’s quarterly inflation report. His role was further enhanced when the Bank was given independence by Gordon Brown in 1997. The deputy governorship of the Bank in 1998 was followed by the governorship four years ago.

Nobody has been more closely associated with Britain’s low-inflation stability of the past 15 years than him. The blow to the Bank’s reputation has hit him hard. But, say friends, it has not undermined his resolve. On the back foot: King is a keen tennis player and sports fan

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