The blushing banker vowed never to be caught out again. Thinking over the evening’s conversation he had an idea. When he next went to the grill he tried to pay with a small cardboard card bearing his signature. That’ll do, they said nicely.

So was born Diners’ Club, the world’s first “universal” credit card.

Charge cards, around since the 1920s, could only be used at the particular shop, garage or hotel that had issued them. But when the banker gave his new interest-charging card to 200 mates, they were able to flaunt it in 14 restaurants.

Fifty years later, Americans have notched up a record $1.58 trillion (pound;1.08 trillion) on tick. As for the man who started it all, well, he decided it was just a fad and sold up after two years.

Diners’ Club was joined in 1958 by American Express. Then the banks got involved and allowed customers to pay in instalments. Leading the way was BankAmericard. In 1976 it changed its name to Visa and last year it issued its one billionth card.

Before plastic, first used by AmEx, flexible friends resembled old-fashioned library cards, with raised numbers that were transferred on to carbon paper by “zip-zap” machines. The magnetic strip, pioneered on London Underground tickets, arrived in the 1970s and improved card security. Just keep your purse away from fridge magnets - the cause of many humiliating “non-authorisations”. Now, those in the know don’t leave home without a smart card with built-in microprocessor.

In 1998, UK shoppers spent pound;119 billion on plastic. But then the British know all about buy-now, pay-later systems. Until the early 20th century, “tallymen” had sold clothes in return for small weekly payments. They kept a record or “tally” of people’s purchases using a stick with notches on it. The notches on one side showed the debt, those on the other the payments.

Whether you could apply for a platinum smart stick with a good APR and air miles is not recorded.

Stephanie Northen