But stocks recovered and kept going, amid aggressive buying of big-company and blue-chip names.

These are all prestigious, blue-chip names.

Besides a blue-chip name, the company added an important guarantee to Mr. Ross's bid for the Coliseum property.

Why has the university plumped for these blue-chip names?

This season's catalogs of postwar and contemporary art are stuffed with blue-chip names.

Contemporary art has been surprisingly healthy at all three major sales this week, with records set for established, blue-chip names as well as emerging artists.

For all those cautionary tales, most investors still seem to think that a blue-chip name on their broker's door is proof enough against being cheated.

One problem is that there do not seem to be many potentially blue-chip names in the pipeline, ready to join what is now a severely restricted group.

Investors' fear of taking risks had reached such an extreme, he said, that he found bargains among blue-chip names.

This quintet of the biggest blue-chip names in British business, are all searching for someone to fill their chairman's office.