Edward Donough "Toby" O'Brien (21 November 1909 – 9 January 1979) was a British journalist and propaganda expert, involved in espionage, who spearheaded Britain's efforts to counter Nazi Germany propaganda during

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 wo ...

Early life and education

O'Brien was born on the

Baluchistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region of de ...

border in India; his father was Colonel Aubrey O'Brien, an Indian Army officer. At the age of five O'Brien was sent to England. Four years later he began attending

St Cyprian's School St Cyprian's School was an English preparatory school for boys, which operated in the early 20th century in Eastbourne, East Sussex. Like other preparatory schools, its purpose was to train pupils to do well enough in the examinations (usual ...

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...

following his elder brother, Turlough. As his elder brother's initials TOB had given rise to the nickname Toby, he was known as Toby2, leading to subsequent confusion. He became friends with

Alaric Jacob Harold Alaric Jacob (8 June 1909 – 26 January 1995) was an English writer and journalist. He was a Reuters correspondent in Washington in the 1930s and a war correspondent during World War II in North Africa, Burma and Moscow. Early life Ala ...

, and despite their political differences, O'Brien would refer to Jacob as his oldest friend. O'Brien won a scholarship as one of the first batch of pupils to newly opened

Stowe School The Stowe School is a public school (English private boarding school) for pupils aged 13–18 in the countryside of Stowe, England. It was opened on 11 May, 1923 at Stowe House, a Grade I Heritage Estate belonging to the British Crown. ...

and then earned a scholarship to

Exeter College, Oxford Exeter College (in full: The Rector and Scholars of Exeter College in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, and the fourth-oldest college of the university. The college was founde ...

. Before Oxford he spent a term in Germany at

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

. At

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

he was President of the

Oxford Union The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford, England, whose membership is drawn primarily from the University of Oxford. Founded in 1823, it is one of Britain's oldest unive ...

in 1932 and took part in a transatlantic debate with

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Journalism and propaganda

O'Brien became a journalist, working at the ''

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

'', initially as assistant and eventually as editor of the Peterborough column. In 1936 he went to Germany ostensibly as a reporter but with a hidden agenda of assessing the Nazi regime and possible opponents of it. In 1938 he was recruited to the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

as a press officer. His duties, which were to secure favourable publicity for the council and its activities and to provide articles and photographs for the foreign press, in fact represented Britain's counter to Goebbels'

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

propaganda. Aside from maintaining a network of supporters in the foreign press and pointing out German lies (including their claims that they had sunk Royal Navy ships, which were, in fact, inland naval bases bearing the HMS prefix), according to his son Donough, O'Brien penned the lyrics to the

Colonel Bogey The "Colonel Bogey March" is a British march that was composed in 1914 by Lieutenant F. J. Ricketts (1881–1945) (pen name Kenneth J. Alford), a British Army bandmaster who later became the director of music for the Royal Marines at Plymouth ...

tune " Hitler Has Only Got One Ball". During the war, he was also involved in espionage for the government, which due to its delicate nature was classified at the time. During the period of 1947 to 1948, he was tasked with protecting the founder of the newly formed nation of Pakistan,

Muhammad Ali Jinnah Muhammad Ali Jinnah (born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 187611 September 1948) was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the inception of Pa ...

Public relations

After the war O'Brien became public relations adviser for Rootes and was then recruited to the Conservative Party, leading the election campaigns which led to the

hung parliament A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system (typically employing Majoritarian representation, majoritarian electoral systems) to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing ...

of 1950 and the Conservative victory in 1951. He became a public relations consultant, and one of his first clients was the government of

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

which wanted to promote tourism. O'Brien had once before been involved with Spain in the 30s, when the plot to transport Franco in a privately owned Dragon Rapide to meet with his forces in Morocco, was concocted by senior figures of the 1936 '

pronunciamiento A is a form of military rebellion or coup d'état particularly associated with Spain, Portugal and Ibero-America, especially in the 19th century. Typology The is one category of praetorianism: the practice of military figures acting as pol ...

' in O'Brien's drawing room. Since the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

Spain had been out of favour in British circles and its obscurity as a holiday destination at the time was indicated by O'Brien's question "

Costa Brava The Costa Brava (; ; "Wild Coast" or "Rough Coast") is a coastal region of Catalonia in northeastern Spain. Sources differ on the exact definition of the Costa Brava. Usually it can be regarded as stretching from the town of Blanes, northeas ...

, where is that?" in response to Fraga's plea for help. Years later with the number of British tourists visiting Spain reaching 2 million, O'Brien was awarded the

Order of Isabella the Catholic The Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic (; Abbreviation, Abbr.: OYC) is a knighthood and one of the three preeminent Order of merit, orders of merit bestowed by the Kingdom of Spain, alongside the Order of Charles III (established in 1771) and ...

General Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republ ...

. Between 1953-55, O'Brien was called in to apply his skills in the campaign to establish commercial television in Britain. Later he was well known in political circles for his "No Strings" parties when senior politicians from both parties attended his annual gathering with no strings attached.Donough O'Brien. ''Fringe Benefits'', ibid.

Death

Toby O'Brien died at the age of 69 from undisclosed causes.

Family

O'Brien married Sylvia Denny on 12 February 1936. They had a son, Donough O'Brien, and two daughters. Sylvia O'Brien died in 1950. He then married Leonora Thayne Railton on 26 February 1952. They had two sons. Leonora O'Brien died in 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Toby 1909 births 1979 deaths People educated at St Cyprian's School People educated at Stowe School Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford Presidents of the Oxford Union British public relations people British male journalists Place of death missing