Roy MacGregor-Hastie (28 March 1929 – 12 February 1994) was a British author, journalist, political commentator, poet, and translator from and into Romanian. MacGregor-Hastie 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 City of Salford, Salford to ...

in 1929. In the late 1950s and early 1960s he was a regular contributor to the ''

Sunday Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet ...

'', and his columns were syndicated worldwide by London Express Features. He spoke seven languages, including Russian, was one of the most widely read commentators on Communist affairs, and reported from

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is official ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

and

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north ...

. He also broadcast on radio and TV. He published many books, including biographies of

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev ...

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also Romanization of Chinese, romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the List of national founde ...

Charles George Gordon Major-General Charles George Gordon CB (28 January 1833 – 26 January 1885), also known as Chinese Gordon, Gordon Pasha, and Gordon of Khartoum, was a British Army officer and administrator. He saw action in the Crimean War as an officer in ...

, and

Mircea Snegur Mircea Snegur (; born 17 January 1940) is a Moldovan politician who was served as first President of Moldova from 1990–1997. Before that, he served as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet 1989–1990 (head of state) and Chairman o ...

. His biography of Nikita Khrushchev sold over 150,000 copies, and has been translated into many European languages and Turkish. He taught at Kingston upon Hull College of Education (now called

Hull College of Education Kingston upon Hull College of Education was founded in 1913 as the "Hull Municipal Training College". The college had numerous name changes until September 1976 when it merged with the Hull College of Higher Education, which ultimately formed ...

) when

Cyril Bibby Cyril Bibby (''b.'' Liverpool, 1 May 1914 as Harold Cyril Bibby; ''d''. Edinburgh 20 June 1987) was a biologist and educator. He was also one of the first sexologists. Early life, family, etc. Bibby was the third of eight children and lived ...

was Principal (1959-1977). MacGregor-Hastie died in 1994. He appeared as a castaway on the

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

programme ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (us ...

'' on 27 July 1964.

Publications

*''The Life and Times of Nikita Kruschev'' (1959); US edition: ''The Man from Nowhere'' (1961) *''The Red Barbarians: The Life and Times of

Mao Tse-tung Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC ...

'' (1961) *''Don't Send Me to

Omsk Omsk (; rus, Омск, p=omsk) is the administrative center and largest city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia, and has a population of over 1.1 million. Omsk is the third largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk ...

!'' (1961) travel/memoir behind the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...

*''

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Roman Catholic Church, Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 28 Oc ...

'' (1962) *''The Day of the Lion: The Rise and Fall of

Fascist Italy Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...

(1922-1945)'' (1964) *''

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death in Augus ...

'' (1964) *''Signor Roy'' (1965) autobiography - Italian

co-operative farming An agricultural cooperative, also known as a farmers' co-op, is a cooperative in which farmers pool their resources in certain areas of activity. A broad typology of agricultural cooperatives distinguishes between agricultural service cooperativ ...

*''The Mechanics of Power: On Government in Spite of the People'' (1966) *''The Throne of Peter: A

History of the Papacy The history of the papacy, the office held by the pope as head of the Catholic Church, spans from the time of Peter, to the present day. Moreover, many of the bishops of Rome in the first three centuries of the Christian era are obscure figure ...

'' (1966) *''Africa: Background for Today'' (1967) *''Anthology of Contemporary

Romanian Poetry Romanian literature () is literature written by Romanian authors, although the term may also be used to refer to all literature written in the Romanian language. History The development of the Romanian literature took place in parallel with that ...

'' (1969) editor *''Sweet Swan of

Humberside Humberside () was a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county in Northern England from 1 April 1974 until 1 April 1996. It was composed of land from either side of the Humber Estuary, created from portions of the East Riding of Yorkshire, West ...

'' (1972) poetry from Hull Art Centre *''Poems for our Lord and Lady'' (1976) *''Modern Bulgarian Poetry'' (1976) translated/co-authored with Bozhidar Bozhilor *''Never to be Taken Alive: A Biography of General Gordon'' (1985) *''

Nell Gwyn Eleanor Gwyn (2 February 1650 – 14 November 1687; also spelled ''Gwynn'', ''Gwynne'') was a celebrity figure of the Restoration period. Praised by Samuel Pepys for her comic performances as one of the first actresses on the English stag ...

'' (1987) *''Picasso's Women'' (1989)

References

1929 births 1994 deaths British male poets British poets English–Romanian translators International Writing Program alumni Romanian–English translators 20th-century British translators {{UK-translator-stub