For more than most it is a day that will forever be inextricably linked with tragedy at City brokers BGC Partners. The firm was formerly part of Cantor Fitzgerald, which lost all 658 of its employees working in the World Trade Centre on 9/11. So it is good to be able to report some genuinely uplifting news about the firm's annual 9/11 Charity Day, when it invited celebrities to take the phones to do deals on behalf of its traders.

I was lucky enough to be there this year and it is a mad, anarchic, good natured occasion, which combines the noise and confusion of a trading floor with the glamour and neck craning excitement of a celebrity event. 

On that day all commission earned on trades goes to the 26 chosen good causes. This year Sir Alex Ferguson, Jonathan Ross, Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, Sir Ian Botham, many of the Ashes winning England cricket team and Rainbow TV stars Bungle and Zippy (I was particularly thrilled to see the Seventies childrens TV icons buying and selling swap options) were among those who helped out.

Across BGC's four offices - the others are in New York, Paris and Singapore - the firm raised a record $10 million. Well done.