The man behind high street retailer Topshop is the subject of a new book, detailing his rise to power and subsequent downfall.

Oliver Shah is the author of Damaged Goods - The Inside Story of Sir Philip Green, the Collapse of BHS and the Death of the High Street. He joined us on The Last Word to talk about this extraordinary story.

Oliver says, "This is really a story of epic ambition, ability, talent and hunger undone by greed. Loss of reputation is the key thing here."

Sir Philip Green owned BHS and all of the Arcadia Group brands as well as Topshop. In his heyday he was valued at £5 million, and the Sunday Times Rich List now values him at £2 million.

Oliver describes him as a larger than life character who appeared in all the diary columns and had the likes of Kate Moss and Tony Blair on speed dial.

His 50th birthday party, held in a five-star hotel, was characteristically extravagant, featuring performances by Tom Jones and Earth, Wind & Fire and video messages recorded for him by Bruce Willis and Britney Spears.

BHS, a mainstay of the British high street, went bust in 2016. It was already struggling a bit when Green bought it in 2000. Oliver says, "He completely gutted it by selling off properties, squeezing suppliers and paying himself big dividends. It was a lost cost by the time he sold it."

"He was taking money out of the company, which then couldn't afford to pay enough into the pension funds."

Green might have got away with all of this had it not been for the media: "We started publishing stories about his shady business past and how much money he'd taken out."

"When BHS went bust in April 2016, it was a real political firestorm. Green was hauled in front of MPs to explain what he'd done. By that time it was impossible for him to get away with it, because the public were disgusted by this high-living billionaire trying to save money by shirking his responsibilities."

Oliver thinks Green rose to the level of success he achieved "by being very single-minded and blocking out any criticism and doing things his own way, and it was exactly that quality that made him fail in the public arena."

Green's reaction to the book has not been good, and Oliver says he has threatened him with legal action, but "on some level deep down he knows he can't hold this stuff back anymore."

Green is now down to his last £2 billion, which Oliver thinks depends largely on the future of Topshop.

"The high street's a brutal place right now. His future, reputation and wealth are all tied up with Topshop and if he can rescue that he might be able to salvage his reputation, but if he can't, I think it could be a very unhappy ending."

To catch the full chat press the play button on the image on the top of the screen