John Angus Macnab (1906–1977) was a British fascist politician who embraced

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

under the influence of

G. K. Chesterton Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an English writer, philosopher, Christian apologist, and literary and art critic. He has been referred to as the "prince of paradox". Of his writing style, ''Time'' observed: "Wh ...

and

Hilaire Belloc Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (, ; 27 July 187016 July 1953) was a Franco-English writer and historian of the early twentieth century. Belloc was also an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist. ...

. He was a close associate of

William Joyce William Brooke Joyce (24 April 1906 – 3 January 1946), nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw, was an American-born fascist and Nazi propaganda broadcaster during the Second World War. After moving from New York to Ireland and subsequently to England, ...

and later became known as a

Perennialist The perennial philosophy ( la, philosophia perennis), also referred to as perennialism and perennial wisdom, is a perspective in philosophy and spirituality that views all of the world's religious traditions as sharing a single, metaphysical trut ...

writer on

Medieval Spain Spain in the Middle Ages is a period in the History of Spain that began in the 5th Century following the Fall of the Western Roman Empire and ended with the beginning of the Early modern period in 1492. The history of Spain is marked by waves ...

and a translator of Latin and Greek poetry.

Early life

Macnab was born in London to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

–

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

parents. The son of a well-known

Harley Street Harley Street is a street in Marylebone, Central London, which has, since the 19th century housed a large number of private specialists in medicine and surgery. It was named after Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer.< ...

eye doctor, MacNab was educated at

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. ...

and Christ Church, Oxford. Macnab converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and was a keen

mountaineer Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...

. Although a gifted translator, he chose on graduation to train as a schoolteacher.

Political involvement

During the 1930s, Macnab shared a flat in London with fascist politician William Joyce, and they became lifelong friends. A witness at Joyce's second marriage, Macnab joined the

British Union of Fascists The British Union of Fascists (BUF) was a British fascist political party formed in 1932 by Oswald Mosley. Mosley changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists in 1936 and, in 1937, to the British Union. In 1939, ...

(BUF) and worked in the party's Propaganda Department, editing the party journal, ''Fascist Quarterly'' and contributing a weekly antisemitic column, 'Jolly Judah', to its newspaper, ''The Blackshirt''. A loyal ally of Joyce, he complained directly to

Oswald Mosley Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980) was a British politician during the 1920s and 1930s who rose to fame when, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, he turned to fascism. He was a member ...

about Joyce's dismissal from the BUF in 1937, but due to the severity of the conflict between Mosley and Joyce, the BUF leader threatened to attack Macnab physically for his complaints, and ultimately had him ejected by force by his Blackshirts. Following the incident, Macnab joined Joyce and John Beckett in forming the overtly pro-

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

National Socialist League The National Socialist League (NSL) was a short-lived Nazi political movement in the United Kingdom immediately prior to the Second World War. Formation The NSL was formed in 1937 by William Joyce, John Beckett and John Angus MacNab as a s ...

. The group gained little support, and Macnab travelled with Joyce to

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

just before the war where they met with

agent Christian Bauer, a journalist with ''

Der Angriff ''Der Angriff'' (in English "The Attack") is a discontinued German language newspaper founded in 1927 by the Berlin Gau of the Nazi Party. The last edition was published on 24 April 1945. History The newspaper was set up by Joseph Goebbels, wh ...

'',Dorrill, p. 464 and travelled onwards with him to

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

. Although Joyce remained in Germany, Macnab returned to Britain immediately after the outbreak of war, stating that he would not be involved in aiding its enemies. In the early stages of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Macnab served as an ambulance driver, but was soon detained under

Defence Regulation 18B Defence Regulation 18B, often referred to as simply 18B, was one of the Defence Regulations used by the British Government during and before the Second World War. The complete name for the rule was Regulation 18B of the Defence (General) Regula ...

due to his previous Nazi sympathies.Kenny, p. 286 He was the first person to identify Joyce as "Lord Haw Haw", whose identity had initially been a mystery, when his former university colleague, the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'' journalist Edward Chichester, Marquess of Donegall, asked him to listen to some recordings, suspecting that Joyce had made them, rather than the other leading suspect,

John Amery John Amery (14 March 1912 – 19 December 1945) was a British fascist and Nazi collaborator during World War II. He was the originator of the British Free Corps, a volunteer Waffen-SS unit composed of former British and Dominion prisoners- ...

. Macnab remained loyal to Joyce after his capture and joined Joyce's brother Quentin in a failed attempt to appeal against his death sentence.

Later life and writings

In 1938, under the influence of

and

, Macnab had embraced scholastic philosophy and

traditional Catholicism Traditionalist Catholicism is the set of beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, liturgical forms, devotions, and presentations of Catholic teaching that existed in the Catholic Church before the liberal reforms of the Second Vatican Council ( ...

. Around the same time, he developed an interest in Spain, and in 1945, at the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, he settled in

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, O ...

with his wife Catherine Collins, an Irish former BUF activist who he had married the same year.Kenny, p. 314 The couple lived with their three children, all born in Spain, in the city's Plaza de Santo Tomé, and Macnab made a living by teaching and translating English, as well as writing. He maintained correspondence with

A. K. Chesterton Arthur Kenneth Chesterton (1 May 1899 – 16 August 1973) was a British far-right journalist and political activist. From 1933 to 1938, he was a member of the British Union of Fascists (BUF). Disillusioned with Oswald Mosley, he left the ...

for much of the remainder of his life, but took no further role in active politics. In the mid-1950s, he read

Marco Pallis Marco may refer to: People * Marco (given name), people with the given name Marco * Marco (actor) (born 1977), South Korean model and actor * Georg Marco (1863–1923), Romanian chess player of German origin * Tomás Marco (born 1942), Spanish ...

's book ''Peaks and Lamas''. He was strongly affected by Pallis's traditionalist thought and wrote to him to express his gratitude. In response, Pallis suggested to Macnab that he should study the writings of

René Guénon René Jean-Marie-Joseph Guénon (15 November 1886 – 7 January 1951), also known as ''Abdalwâhid Yahiâ'' (; ''ʿAbd al-Wāḥid Yaḥiā'') was a French intellectual who remains an influential figure in the domain of metaphysics, having writte ...

and

Frithjof Schuon Frithjof Schuon (, , ; 18 June 1907 – 5 May 1998) was a Swiss metaphysician of German descent, belonging to the Perennialist or Traditionalist School of thought. He was the author of more than twenty works in French on metaphysics, spirituali ...

, which he did. Macnab visited Schuon in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , , , ) ; it, Losanna; rm, Losanna. is the capital and largest city of the Swiss French speaking canton of Vaud. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway between the Jura Mountains and the Alps, and fac ...

in 1957, and they remained in contact until his death in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...

in 1977. While in Spain, Macnab received a number of high-profile visitors from Britain and the United States, including novelists

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires '' Decl ...

and

James Michener James Albert Michener ( or ; February 3, 1907 – October 16, 1997) was an American writer. He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were long, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and ...

, publisher Tom Burns, and Marco Pallis. Macnab's studies of the history of

Moorish Spain Al-Andalus translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label= Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, al-Ándalus () was the Mu ...

resulted in two books: ''Spain under the Crescent Moon'', and ''Toledo, Sacred and Profane'', as well as a number of articles published in the London journal ''Studies of Comparative Religion'' from 1965 to 1968. He also wrote ''Bulls of Iberia'', which was described by the English critic

Kenneth Tynan Kenneth Peacock Tynan (2 April 1927 – 26 July 1980) was an English theatre critic and writer. Making his initial impact as a critic at '' The Observer'', he praised Osborne's '' Look Back in Anger'' (1956), and encouraged the emerging wave of ...

as "awesomely good". In an article in the British journal ''New Blackfriars'',New Blackfriars, Vol. 76, No. 1, October 1995, pp. 461–462.

William Stoddart William Stoddart (born 25 June 1925, in Carstairs) is a Scottish physician, author and "spiritual traveller", who has written several books on the Perennial Philosophy and on comparative religion. He has been called a "master of synthesis"''Sop ...

paid tribute to Macnab as a leading Catholic intellectual who was the author of a fascinating study of the Spanish Middle Ages.

Selected works

* ''Spain under the Crescent Moon'', Fons Vitae, Louisville KY, 1999. * ''Toledo, Sacred and Profane'' (unpublished) * ''Bulls of Iberia'', Heinemann, London, 1957.

References

External links