UK: THE GREAT UNIVERSAL MYSTERY - GREAT UNIVERSAL STORES.

Great Universal Stores has eluded its public for 60 years. But perhaps its best-kept secret today is whether there will be a GUS without a Wolfson pulling the strings.

The phone rings for three-and-a-half minutes. Finally, someone picks up the receiver: 'Yes?' The voice is middle-aged and suspicious. The caller asks to be put through to an executive but the response is curt: 'The lines are down, we'll have to call you back.' No one does. Later, telephone calls are made to the deputy chairman and then the chief executive of the company's largest division. Always the same promise, always the same silence.