Anthony Bernard Blond (20 March 1928 – 27 February 2008) was a British publisher and author, who was involved with several publishing companies over his career, including several he established himself, or in partnerships, from 1952.

Biography

Born in Sale, Cheshire, Blond was the elder son of Major

Neville Blond Neville Blond Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, CMG Order of the British Empire, OBE (11 February 1896 - 4 August 1970) was born in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, Yorkshire to Bernard and Rachel Blond. He was educated at Manchester ...

CMG CMG may refer to: Companies * Capitol Music Group, a music label * China Media Group, the predominant state radio and television broadcaster in the PRC * China Media Group Co., Ltd., publicly listed Chinese holding company in the media sector * ...

OBE 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 ...

, who was a cousin of Harold Laski.Obituary: Anthony Blond
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'', 1 March 2008. His mother was from a

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 City of Salford, Salford to ...

Sephardic Jewish family. His parents divorced when Blond was a child and Blond was educated at Eton, where he was bullied. He briefly served National Service in the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

, but growing pacifism soon led to him registering as a conscientious objector. Having gained a History exhibition (scholarship) to New College, Oxford,Isabel Colegat
"Anthony Blond: Bold and imaginative publisher with an infectious love of life"
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'', 3 March 2008. he lost it by indulging too much in the distractions of an undergraduate life: "the joys of drink, people, parties, fancy waistcoats, foreign travel and falling in love – mostly with young men." After Oxford University, he briefly worked for a literary agent Raymond Savage, but set up his own firm in 1952, Anthony Blond (London) Ltd, in partnership with the future novelist Isabel Colegate He briefly joined Allan Wingate, but that publishing company folded in 1958, and with his own £5,000 set up a new firm.Michael Barbe
"Obituary: Anthony Blond – A maverick publisher, he took a rollercoaster ride through the late 20th century"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'', 1 March 2008. Reported to have given the first chance to some 70 writers, Blond was particularly close to the novelist Simon Raven. Blond set up various publishing firms over the years, including Blond Educational in 1962, which he sold in 1969 to CBS, and he went into partnership with Desmond Briggs as Blond & Briggs in 1960, an informal arrangement that lasted until 1979 when Briggs retired and

Harlech Television ITV Wales and West, previously known as Harlech Television (HTV), was an ITV franchise area in the United Kingdom until 31 December 2013, licensed to a broadcaster by the regulator Ofcom. There is no channel, past or present, named "ITV Wales ...

bought the company in 1979, retaining Blond as an advisor. In a management buyout Blond regained control after two years, and established his last partnership, Blond, Muller and White. Century Hutchinson absorbed this firm in 1987. Blond was an early director and publisher of satirical magazine '' Private Eye''. His friendship with James Goldsmith (and other members of the Clermont Club circle) survived Goldsmith's numerous writs to the magazine in the mid-1970s. In 1955, Blond married Charlotte, the daughter of John Strachey; the marriage lasted until 1960, and Charlotte eventually married the political journalist Peter Jenkins. After a long relationship with Andrew McCall, Blond, who was bisexual, married Laura Hesketh in 1981. Blond also had a son, Aaron, by the author

Cressida Lindsay Cressida Anne Lindsay (1930 - 13 November 2010) was an English poet and novelist in the 1960s. Early life Cressida Lindsay was born in London in 1930, the daughter of the writer Philip Lindsay (and a granddaughter of the Australian artist and w ...

. Blond was a Labour Party candidate in Chester at the

1964 general election The following elections occurred in 1964. Africa * 1964 Cameroonian parliamentary election * 1964 Central African Republic parliamentary election * 1964 Central African Republic presidential election * 1964 Dahomeyan general election * 1964 Gabo ...

and was also on the executive of the

National Council for Civil Liberties Liberty, formerly, and still formally, called the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL), is an advocacy group and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, which challenges unjust laws, protects civil liberties and promotes hu ...

. His autobiography, ''Jew Made in England'', was published in 2004. Anthony Blond died aged 79 in hospital in Limoges,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, near the home he had shared with his wife for 25 years. Blond was described in Michael Barber's ''Guardian'' obituary as "the last of the eponymous Jewish publishers whose

chutzpah Chutzpah () is the quality of audacity, for good or for bad. It derives from the Hebrew word ' (), meaning "insolence", "cheek" or "audacity". Thus the original Yiddish word has a strongly negative connotation but the form which entered Englis ...

made publishing hum in the days before the conglomerates".

Book series established

* The Doughty LibraryDoughty Library
owu.edu. Retrieved 30 March 2020. * The Great SocietyLetter: Anthony Blond
''

'', 15 March 2008. Retrieved 24 May 2018. * Handbooks to the Modern World

Books written

* ''The Publishing Game'', London: Jonathan Cape, 1971. * ''Family Business'', London: Andre Deutsch. 1978. * ''The Book Book'', London: Jonathan Cape, 1985. * ''A Scandalous History of the Roman Emperors'', London: Quartet Books Limited, 1994. * ''Jew Made in England'', London, Timewell Press, 2004. * ''A Brief History of the Private Lives of the Roman Emperors'', London: Robinson Publishing, 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blond, Anthony 1928 births 2008 deaths Military personnel from Cheshire Alumni of New College, Oxford Bisexual men British bisexual writers English conscientious objectors English Sephardi Jews Publishers (people) from London British Jews LGBT Jews English LGBT writers People educated at Eton College People from Sale, Greater Manchester Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Literary agents 20th-century English businesspeople 20th-century British Army personnel Royal Artillery personnel 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people