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Bower, Tom
Thomas Michael Bower (born 28 September 1946) is a British writer and former BBC journalist and television producer. He is known for his investigative journalism and for his unauthorised biographies, often of business tycoons and newspaper proprietors. His books include unauthorised biographies of Robert Maxwell, Mohamed Al-Fayed, Conrad Black, Richard Branson, Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson. A book about Richard Desmond remains unpublished. Bower's book, '' Broken Dreams: Vanity, Greed and the Souring of British Football'', won the 2003 William Hill Sports Book of the Year. Early life Bower was born in London in 1946. His parents were Jewish refugees who fled Prague after the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 and arrived in London later that same year. They married in London in early 1943. From 1948, Tom's father Jiri Gerhard Bauer renounced the use of the surname Bauer for the family, and called himself George Gerald Bower, a change he confirmed by deed pol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Veronica Wadley, Baroness Fleet
Veronica Judith Colleton Wadley, Baroness Fleet, (born 28 February 1952) is a board member of Arts Council England (2010–present). She is a director and trustee of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. She was a senior advisor to the former Mayor of London, Boris Johnson (2012–2016) and the co-founder and chairman of the London Music Fund (formerly the Mayor's Fund for Young Musicians), where she remains a Trustee & Chair. She is also a non-executive director of the Berkeley Group and an independent Director of Times Newspapers Holdings. Prior to this, she was the editor of the ''Evening Standard'' (2002–2009) and previously deputy editor of ''The Daily Telegraph''. Early life and career Wadley was born in Chelsea to Lieutenant Colonel Neville Pierce Wadley, MC, and Anne, daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Hautayne Bowring, Royal Field Artillery, of a landed gentry family of Larkbeare, Exeter descended from Sir John Bowring, fourth Governor of Hong Kon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Statesman
''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney Webb, Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members of the socialist Fabian Society, such as George Bernard Shaw, who was a founding director. The longest-serving editor was Kingsley Martin (1930–1960), and the most recent editor was Jason Cowley (journalist), Jason Cowley, who assumed the post in 2008 and left in 2024. Today, the magazine is a print–digital hybrid. According to its present self-description, it has a modern Liberalism in the United Kingdom, liberal and Independent progressive, progressive political position. Jason Cowley (journalist), Jason Cowley, the magazine's editor, has described the ''New Statesman'' as a publication "of the left, for the left" but also as "a political and literary magaz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aurum Press
The Quarto Group is a global illustrated book publishing group founded in 1976. It is domiciled in the United States and listed on the London Stock Exchange. Quarto creates and sells illustrated books for adults and children, across 50 countries and in 40 languages, through a variety of traditional and non-traditional channels. Quarto employs c.330 people in eight offices in London, Brighton, New York City, Boston, Seattle, Southern California and Hong Kong. In July 2020, its publication ''This Book Is Anti-Racist'' by Tiffany Jewell reached the Number 1 position on The New York Times bestseller list. The group was established by co-founders Laurence Orbach and Robert Morley and was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1986. Laurence Orbach was chairman and CEO until November 2012, when he was replaced as chairman by Tim Chadwick and Marcus Leaver as CEO. Chuk Kin Lau, the principal shareholder, became Group CEO in July 2018. In February 2020, the Italian publisher, Giunti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Haines (journalist)
Joseph Thomas William Haines (29 January 1928 – 19 February 2025) was a British journalist and press secretary to UK Labour Party, Labour Party leader and Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Early life and career Born in Rotherhithe, then an impoverished area of London with appalling housing conditions, Haines was the youngest child of a dock worker who died when he was two. His mother, a cleaner at a hospital, brought up the family. He joined the Labour Party as a teenager. At 14, he became a copy boy on the Glasgow ''Bulletin'', and then a lobby reporter at Westminster in 1950. In 1954, Haines became the political correspondent for ''George Outram & Co.'' in Glasgow, before moving to Edinburgh around 1960 to work for the ''Daily Mail#Scottish Daily Mail, Scottish Daily Mail''. From 1964 he was employed by the pre-Murdoch ''The Sun (United Kingdom)#The Sun before Rupert Murdoch, Sun'', and became Harold Wilson's press secretary in 1969.Dennis Griffiths (ed.) ''The Encyclopedia of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly''. In December 2024, Tortoise Media acquired the paper from the Scott Trust Limited, with the transition taking place on 22 April 2025. History Origins The first issue was published on 4 December 1791 by W.S. Bourne, making ''The Observer'' the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. Believing that the paper would be a means of wealth, Bourne instead soon found himself facing debts of nearly £1,600. Though early editions purported editorial independence, Bourne attempted to cut his losses and sell the title to the government. When this failed, Bourne's brother (a wealthy businessman) made an offer to the government, which also refused to buy the paper but agreed to subsidise it in return for influence over its editori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neal Ascherson
Charles Neal Ascherson (born 5 October 1932) is a Scottish journalist and writer. In his youth he fought for the British in the Malayan Emergency. He has been described by Radio Prague as "one of Britain's leading experts on central and eastern Europe". Ascherson is the author of several books on the history of Poland and Ukraine. His work has appeared in ''The Guardian'' and ''The New York Review of Books''. Early life Ascherson was born in Edinburgh on 5 October 1932, son of a Naval officer of Jewish ancestry and a mother from a London family of Scottish descent; his elder half-sister (by his father's first marriage) was the artist Pamela Ascherson. He was awarded a scholarship to Eton. Military service Before going to university, he did his National Service as an officer in the Royal Marines, serving from July 1951 to September 1952. During this time he fought in the Malayan Emergency against pro-independence and communist guerrillas belonging to the Malayan Nati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Counterintelligence Corps (United States Army)
The Counter Intelligence Corps (Army CIC) was a World War II and early Cold War intelligence agency within the United States Army consisting of highly trained special agents. Its role was taken over by the Military Intelligence Corps (United States Army), U.S. Army Intelligence Corps in 1961 and, in 1967, by the United States Army Intelligence Agency. Its functions are now performed by its modern-day descendant organization, United States Army Counterintelligence. The National Counter Intelligence Corps Association (NCICA), a veterans' association, was established in the years immediately following World War II by former military intelligence agents. Origins The CIC had its origins in the Corps of Intelligence Police founded by Ralph Van Deman in 1917. This organization, operating within the USA and on attachment to the American Expeditionary Force in France, at its peak numbered over 600 men. However, in the post-war period, the policy of isolationism, retrenchment of military sp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lyon
Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, northeast of Saint-Étienne. The City of Lyon is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city in France with a population of 522,250 at the Jan. 2021 census within its small municipal territory of , but together with its suburbs and exurbs the Lyon Functional area (France), metropolitan area had a population of 2,308,818 that same year, the second largest in France. Lyon and 58 suburban municipalities have formed since 2015 the Lyon Metropolis, Metropolis of Lyon, a directly elected metropolitan authority now in charge of most urban issues, with a population of 1,424,069 in 2021. Lyon is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region and seat of the Departmental co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gestapo
The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Free State of Prussia, Prussia into one organisation. On 20 April 1934, oversight of the Gestapo passed to the head of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS), Heinrich Himmler, who was also appointed Chief of German Police by Hitler in 1936. Instead of being exclusively a Prussian state agency, the Gestapo became a national one as a sub-office of the (SiPo; Security Police). From 27 September 1939, it was administered by the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA). It became known as (Dept) 4 of the RSHA and was considered a sister organisation to the (SD; Security Service). The Gestapo committed widespread atrocities during its existence. The power of the Gestapo was used to focus upon political opponents, ideological dissenters (clergy and religious org ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising all resources in pursuit of total war. Tanks in World War II, Tanks and Air warfare of World War II, aircraft played major roles, enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, first and only nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II is the List of wars by death toll, deadliest conflict in history, causing World War II casualties, the death of 70 to 85 million people, more than half of whom were civilians. Millions died in genocides, including the Holocaust, and by massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Allied-occupied Germany, Germany, Allied-occupied Austria, Austria, Occupation of Japan, Japan, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Klaus Barbie
Nikolaus Barbie (25 October 1913 – 25 September 1991) was a German officer of the ''Schutzstaffel'' and ''Sicherheitsdienst'' who worked in Vichy France during World War II. He became known as the "Butcher of Lyon" for having personally tortured prisoners—primarily Jews and members of the French Resistance—as the head of the Gestapo in Lyon. After the war, United States Intelligence Community, United States intelligence services employed him for his Anti-communism, anti-communist efforts and aided his escape to Bolivia, where he advised History of Bolivia (1964–1982), the dictatorial regime on how to repress opposition through torture. In 1983, the United States apologised to France for the U.S. Counterintelligence Corps helping him escape to Bolivia, aiding Barbie's escape from an outstanding arrest warrant. In 1972, it was discovered he was in Bolivia. While in Bolivia, the Bundesnachrichtendienst, West German Intelligence Service recruited him. Barbie is suspected of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
