Leonard Oswald Mosley (11 February 1913 – June 1992) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

journalist, historian, biographer and novelist. His works include five novels and biographies of General

George Marshall George Catlett Marshall Jr. (December 31, 1880 – October 16, 1959) was an American army officer and statesman. He rose through the United States Army to become Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Chief of Staff of the US Army under Pre ...

, Reichsmarschall

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...

, Orde Wingate,

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...

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, John Foster Dulles and

Darryl F. Zanuck Darryl Francis Zanuck (September 5, 1902December 22, 1979) was an American film producer and studio executive; he earlier contributed stories for films starting in the silent era. He played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of ...

. He also worked as chief war correspondent for London's ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...

''.

Biography

Leonard Oswald Mosley was born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

on 11 February 1913, the son of Leonard Cyril Mosley and Annie Althea Mosley née Glaiser.myheritage.com
/ref> He was educated at

William Hulme's Grammar School William Hulme's Grammar School is a mixed all-through school in Whalley Range, Manchester, England. History William Hulme (1631–1691) of Hulme Hall, Stockport, was the founder of "Hulme's Charity" later known as the Hulme Trust. Follow ...

. At the age of seventeen he started work as a reporter for the ''Telegraph'', a weekly paper, since defunct, which circulated in

South Lancashire South Lancashire is a geographical county area, used to indicate the southern part of the historic county of Lancashire, today without any administrative purpose. The county region has no exact boundaries but generally includes areas that form t ...

and North Cheshire. After a year working there he lost his job as a result of an ill-timed practical joke, and then spent six months as a freelance, living in his parental home in Didsbury. During the summer of 1931 he left England and made his way to America. In New York he spent three months as an Assistant Stage Manager for a burlesque show, then for half a year worked as a journalist for the ''

New York Daily Mirror The ''New York Daily Mirror'' was an American morning tabloid newspaper first published on June 24, 1924, in New York City by the William Randolph Hearst organization as a contrast to their mainstream broadsheets, the ''Evening Journal'' and ''N ...

''. In May 1932 he left the East Coast and drove to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

in an old Ford Model T. He arrived in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

just in time for the 1932 Summer Olympics, which he covered as an employee of

United Press United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20t ...

. He subsequently worked as a freelance journalist in Hollywood. He reported on the

1933 Long Beach earthquake The 1933 Long Beach earthquake took place on March 10 at south of downtown Los Angeles. The epicenter was offshore, southeast of Long Beach, California, on the Newport–Inglewood Fault. The earthquake had a magnitude estimated at 6.4 , and a ...

, returning to England shortly afterwards. He found employment as a roving reporter, a job that took him all over the world. One early assignment which brought him back to the United States and made a great impression on him was the trial of

Richard Hauptmann Bruno Richard Hauptmann (November 26, 1899 – April 3, 1936) was a German-born carpenter who was convicted of the abduction and murder of the 20-month-old son of aviator Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The Lindbergh kidna ...

for the

Lindbergh kidnapping On March 1, 1932, Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. (born June 22, 1930), the 20-month-old son of aviators Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was abducted from his crib in the upper floor of the Lindberghs' home, Highfields, in East Am ...

. Many years later he would write a biography of Lindbergh.

Books

* * * * * - published in US as ''Europe Down-Stream'' * * * - in 1955 made into the film ''

They Can't Hang Me ''They Can't Hang Me'' is a 1955 British drama film directed by Val Guest and starring Terence Morgan, Yolande Donlan and Anthony Oliver. It was based on a novel by Leonard Mosley. It was shot at Shepperton Studios near London. The film's sets ...

'' * * - about

Valentine Browne, 6th Earl of Kenmare Valentine Edward Charles Browne, 6th Earl of Kenmare (29 May 1891 – 20 September 1943), styled Viscount Castlerosse from 1905 to 1941, was the Earl of Kenmare and the son of Valentine Browne, 5th Earl of Kenmare. Lord Castlerosse, an Anglo-Iris ...

*- the story of

John Eppler Johannes Eppler (1914–1999), also known as Hans Eppler, John Eppler, and Hussein Gaafer, was a World War II Abwehr spy, a German who had been raised in Egypt by his Egyptian stepfather. One of Rommel's spies during the North African campaign ...

, later made into the film ''

Foxhole in Cairo ''Foxhole in Cairo'' is a 1960 British war film directed by John Llewellyn Moxey and based on a novel by Leonard Mosley itself based upon the real-life Operation Salaam. It starred James Robertson Justice, Adrian Hoven, Fenella Fielding and H ...

'' * * (Published in United States as ''The Glorious Fault: The Life of Lord Curzon''). * * * * * * * * * * - about

; published in US as ''Marshall: Organizer of Victory'' (but not to be confused with the book of identical title by Forrest C. Pogue) * * * - Biography of

* * * * * - published in UK as ''The Real Walt Disney''

Honours

*In June 1946 he was appointed an OBE (Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

) for his work at Kemsley Newspapers. (He was then on the staff of the '' Daily Express''). *In June 1964 he was appointed as an officer of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem.London Gazette 26 June 1964
/ref>

References

External links

*http://www.librarything.com/author/mosleyleonard {{DEFAULTSORT:Mosley, Leonard 1913 births 1992 deaths British biographers British male journalists British historians British war correspondents Writers from Manchester 20th-century British novelists 20th-century biographers British male novelists Officers of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century English male writers Male biographers