The first oil crisis of my lifetime was in the mid-1970s and it revolves around a hazy memory of the Rumble in the Jungle. Fought in Kinshasa (then in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo), the fight saw the older Muhammad Ali tactically ensnare the younger, more powerful George Foreman with his now-famous “rope-a-dope” strategy.

Ali knew he couldn’t go toe to toe with Foreman, but if he lay on the ropes, using the elasticity of the ropes to absorb the punches, Foreman would eventually tire himself out, allowing Ali to conserve energy and then pounce. The fight, watched by one billion people worldwide (one in four of the global population), was timed for 9pm American prime-time viewing, making it 2am in Ireland and 4am in Zaire.

It was the biggest event of my seven-year-old life, made more exciting by the fact that not only was I allowed to stay up all night but, in our black-and-white 1970s world, my dad rented a colour TV from Eddie Totterdell’s in Dún Laoghaire for the night. Neighbours crowded into our kitchen to watch in technicolour. We were witnessing the future.

But why was the fight in Zaire? Who paid for it and with what money? This is where the 1973 oil shock comes in. By the early 1970s, Egypt and Syria were determined to avenge their defeat in the 1967 war against Israel, when Gaza, Sinai, the Golan Heights and the West Bank were lost to the Israelis. Oil markets were beginning to change. The big American and British companies, the so-called Seven Sisters that had controlled the oil markets, keeping oil prices artificially low, had been pushed out by Arab leaders determined to be paid the going price for their precious resource.

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