Francis Claud Cockburn ( ; 12 April 1904 – 15 December 1981) was a
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...
. His saying "believe nothing until it has been officially denied" is widely quoted in journalistic studies, but he did not claim credit for originating it. He was the second cousin, once removed, of the
novelist
A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...
s
Alec Waugh
Alexander Raban Waugh (8 July 1898 – 3 September 1981) was a British novelist, the elder brother of the better-known Evelyn Waugh, uncle of Auberon Waugh and son of Arthur Waugh, author, literary critic, and publisher. His first wife was Bar ...
and
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 ...
. He lived at Brook Lodge,
Youghal
Youghal ( ; ) is a seaside resort town in County Cork, Ireland. Located on the estuary of the River Blackwater, the town is a former military and economic centre. Located on the edge of a steep riverbank, the town has a long and narrow layout. ...
,
County Cork
County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...
,
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
.
Cockburn was "a leading
British Communist Party
The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...
member", and by the 1940s, he was reputed to be a prominent figure in "the
Comintern in
Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
".
Early life
Cockburn was born in
Peking
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
(present-day
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
),
China, on 12 April 1904, the son of
Henry Cockburn, a British
Consul General
A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...
, and wife Elizabeth Gordon (née Stevenson). His paternal great-grandfather was
Scottish judge/biographer
Henry Cockburn, Lord Cockburn
Henry Thomas Cockburn of Bonaly, Lord Cockburn ( ; Cockpen, Midlothian, 26 October 1779 – Bonaly, Midlothian, 26 April/18 July 1854) was a Scottish lawyer, judge and literary figure. He served as Solicitor General for Scotland between 1830 a ...
. Cockburn was educated at
Berkhamsted School
Berkhamsted School is an independent day school in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England. The present school was formed in 1997 by the amalgamation of the original Berkhamsted School, founded in 1541 by John Incent, Dean of St Paul's Cathedral ...
,
Berkhamstead
Berkhamsted ( ) is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, in the Bulbourne valley, north-west of London. The town is a civil parish with a town council within the borough of Dacorum which is based in the neighbouring large new town ...
,
Hertfordshire, and
Keble College
Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to ...
,
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, graduating with a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
. At Oxford he was part of the
Hypocrites' Club
The Hypocrites' Club was one of the student clubs at Oxford University in England. Its motto in Greek, from an Olympian Ode by Pindar, was ''Water is best''. This led to the members being called ''Hypocrites'', due to the fact that beer, wine an ...
.
Journalist
He became a
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...
with ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' and worked as a
foreign correspondent in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
and the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
before he resigned in 1933 to start his own newsletter, ''
The Week
''The Week'' is a weekly news magazine with editions in the United Kingdom and United States. The British publication was founded in 1995 and the American edition in 2001. An Australian edition was published from 2008 to 2012. A children's ed ...
''. It has been claimed that during his spell as a
sub-editor
Copy editing (also known as copyediting and manuscript editing) is the process of revising written material ( copy) to improve readability and fitness, as well as ensuring that text is free of grammatical and factual errors. ''The Chicago Manual o ...
on ''The Times'', Cockburn and colleagues competed (with a small prize for the winner) to write the dullest printed headline. Cockburn only once claimed the honours, with "Small Earthquake in Chile, Not many dead". No copy of ''The Times'' featuring that headline has been located although it finally appeared decades after the recollection in ''Not the Times'', a spoof version of the newspaper produced by several journalists at ''The Times'' in 1979 during the paper's year-long absence because of an industrial dispute.
Spanish Civil War
Under the alias Frank Pitcairn,
Cockburn contributed to the British communist newspaper, the ''
Daily Worker
The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in New York City by the Communist Party USA, a formerly Comintern-affiliated organization. Publication began in 1924. While it generally reflected the prevailing views of the party, attempts were ...
''. In 1936,
Harry Pollitt
Harry Pollitt (22 November 1890 – 27 June 1960) was a British communist who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) from 1929 to September 1939 and again from 1941 until his death in 1960. Pollitt spent ...
, General Secretary of the
Communist Party of Great Britain, asked him to cover the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...
. Cockburn joined the Fifth Regiment to report the war as a soldier. While in Spain, he published ''Reporter in Spain''. According to the editor of a volume of his writings on Spain, Cockburn formed a personal relationship with
Mikhail Koltsov
Mikhail Efimovich Koltsov (russian: Михаи́л Ефи́мович Кольцо́в) (The record of the birth of Moisey Fridlyand in the metric book of the Kiev rabbinate for 1898 ( ЦГИАК Украины. Ф. 1164. Оп. 1. Д. 442. Л. 13 ...
, "then the foreign editor of ''
Pravda
''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, "Truth") is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most influential papers in the ...
'' and, in Cockburn's view, 'the confidant and mouthpiece and direct agent of
Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
in Spain'".
Cockburn's reporting in Spain, as "Frank Pitcairn", was heavily criticised by
George Orwell in his 1938 memoir ''
Homage to Catalonia
''Homage to Catalonia'' is George Orwell's personal account of his experiences and observations fighting in the Spanish Civil War for the POUM militia of the Republican army.
Published in 1938 (about a year before the war ended) with little c ...
''.
Orwell accused Cockburn of being under the control of Stalinist handlers and was critical of Cockburn's depiction of the
Barcelona May Days
The May Days, sometimes also called May Events, refer to a series of clashes between 3 and 8 May 1937 during which factions on the Republican faction of the Spanish Civil War engaged one another in street battles in various parts of Catalonia, ...
in which Orwell had taken part and during which anti-Stalinist communists and anarchists were caught and executed by
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
operatives.
Specifically, to undermine anti-Stalinist factions on the
Republican side, Cockburn falsely reported that the anti-Stalinist figurehead
Andrés Nin
Andreu Nin Pérez (4 February 1892 – 20 June 1937) was a Spanish communist politician, translator and publicist. In 1937, Nin and the rest of the POUM leadership were arrested by the Moscow-oriented government of the Second Spanish Republic ...
, who had been tortured and executed by the NKVD, was alive and well after escaping to fascist territory.
According to writer
Adam Hochschild
Adam Hochschild (; born October 5, 1942) is an American author, journalist, historian and lecturer. His best-known works include '' King Leopold's Ghost'' (1998), '' To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914–1918'' (2011), ''Bu ...
, Cockburn functioned as Stalinist propagandist during the war "on
ommunistParty orders". In one instance, Cockburn claimed to have been an eyewitness to a battle that he totally invented. This hoax was intended to persuade the French prime minister that
Francisco Franco's forces were weaker than they appeared and thus make the Republicans seem worthier candidates for help in obtaining arms. The ruse worked, and the French border was opened for a previously-stalled artillery shipment.
Opposition to appeasement
In the late 1930s, Cockburn published a private newspaper, ''The Week'', which was highly critical of
Neville Chamberlain.
[Watt, Donald Cameron "Rumors as Evidence" pages 276-286 from ''Russia War, Peace and Diplomacy'' edited by Ljubica & Mark Erickson, London: ]Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd (established 1949), often shortened to W&N or Weidenfeld, is a British publisher of fiction and reference books. It has been a division of the French-owned Orion Publishing Group since 1991.
History
George Weidenfeld a ...
, 2004 page 278. Cockburn maintained in the 1960s that much of the information in ''The Week'' had been leaked to him by
Sir Robert Vansittart,
Permanent Under-Secretary of the Foreign Office.
[
At the same time, Cockburn claimed that the Security Service (]MI5
The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...
) was spying on him because of ''The Week'', but the British historian D.C. Watt argued that it was more likely that if anyone was spying on Cockburn, it was the Special Branch of Scotland Yard, which was less experienced in that work than MI5.[ Cockburn was an opponent of appeasement before the ]Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that enabled those powers to partition Poland between them. The pact was signed in Moscow on 23 August 1939 by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ri ...
. In a 1937 article in ''The Week'', Cockburn coined the term " Cliveden set" to describe what he alleged to be an upper-class pro-German group that exercised influence behind the scenes. ''The Week'' ceased publication shortly after the war had begun.
Watt alleges that the information printed in ''The Week'' included rumours, some of which suited Moscow's interests.[Watt, Donald Cameron "Rumors as Evidence" pages 276-286 from ''Russia War, Peace and Diplomacy'' edited by Ljubica & Mark Erickson, London: ]Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd (established 1949), often shortened to W&N or Weidenfeld, is a British publisher of fiction and reference books. It has been a division of the French-owned Orion Publishing Group since 1991.
History
George Weidenfeld a ...
, 2004 page 283. Watt used as an example the claim ''The Week'' made in February–March 1939 that German troops were concentrating in Klagenfurt
Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...
for an invasion of Yugoslavia, which Watt states to have no basis in reality.[
]
Postwar
In 1947, Cockburn moved to Ireland and lived at Ardmore, County Waterford. He continued to contribute to newspapers and journals, including a weekly column for ''The Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
''. In the ''Irish Times'' he famously stated, "Wherever there is a stink in international affairs, you will find that Henry Kissinger
Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presid ...
has recently visited".
Among his novels were '' Beat the Devil'' (originally under the pseudonym James Helvick), ''The Horses'', ''Ballantyne's Folly'', and ''Jericho Road''. ''Beat the Devil'' was made into a 1953 film
The year 1953 in film involved some significant events.
Top-grossing films (U.S.)
The top ten 1953 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
Events
* January 16 – A new Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. is incorporated ...
by the director John Huston, who paid Cockburn £3,000 for the rights to the book and screenplay. Cockburn collaborated with Huston on the early drafts of the script, but the credit went to Truman Capote
Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, ...
. The title was later used by Cockburn's son Alexander
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
for his regular column in ''The Nation
''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...
''.
He published ''Bestseller'', an exploration of English popular fiction, ''Aspects of English History'' (1957), ''The Devil's Decade'' (1973), his history of the 1930s and ''Union Power'' (1976).
His first volume of memoirs was published as ''In Time of Trouble'' (1956) in the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
and as ''A Discord of Trumpets'' in the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. It was followed by ''Crossing the Line'' (1958), and ''A View from the West'' (1961). Revised, they were published by Penguin as ''I, Claud...'' in 1967. Again revised and shortened, with a new chapter, they were republished as ''Cockburn Sums Up'' shortly before he died.
He also wrote ''Mr. Mintoff Comes to Ireland''. The book was published in 1975 but set in 1980 when Dom Mintoff
Dominic Mintoff, ( mt, Duminku Mintoff, ; often called ''il-Perit'', "the Architect"; 6 August 1916 – 20 August 2012) was a Maltese Socialist politician, architect, and civil engineer who was leader of the Labour Party from 1949 to 198 ...
was Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
's Prime Minister and leader of the Malta Labour Party. The cover description describes it as a "shrewd assessment of how a small independent nation may best stand up to the so called Great Powers".
Family
Claud Cockburn married three times: all three of his wives were also journalists.
# Hope Hale Davis
Hope Hale Davis (née Frances Hope Hale; November 2, 1903 – October 2, 2004) was a 20th-century American feminist (or "proto-feminist") and communist, later a writer and writing teacher.
Background
Davis was born Frances Hope Hale on November 2, ...
: child Claudia Cockburn
Claudia Cockburn Flanders, OBE (11 February 1933 – 25 June 1998) was an American-British disability activist who spent much of her working life in the United Kingdom.
Her parents were Claud Cockburn, a journalist, and Hope Hale Davis. She mar ...
Flanders (wife of Michael Flanders
Michael Henry Flanders (1 March 1922 – 14 April 1975) was an English actor, broadcaster, and writer and performer of comic songs. He is best known for his stage partnership with Donald Swann.
As a young man Flanders seemed to be heading f ...
)
# Jean Ross
Jean Iris Ross Cockburn ( ; 7 May 1911 – 27 April 1973) was a British writer, political activist, and film critic. During the Spanish Civil War (1936–39), she was a war correspondent for the '' Daily Express'' and is thought to have been ...
(model for Christopher Isherwood's Sally Bowles
Sally Bowles () is a fictional character created by English-American novelist Christopher Isherwood and based upon 19-year-old cabaret singer Jean Ross. The character debuted in Isherwood's 1937 novella ''Sally Bowles'' published by Hogarth Press ...
of ''Cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining o ...
'' fame): child Sarah Caudwell Cockburn, author of detective stories
# Patricia Byron in 1940 (née Patricia Evangeline Anne Arbuthnot (17 March 1914 – 6 October 1989), daughter of Major John Bernard Arbuthnot
Major John Bernard Arbuthnot, MVO (17 May 1875, in London – 16 September 1950) was a British soldier, banker, and journalist.
Life
Arbuthnot was the son of Colonel George Arbuthnot and wife Caroline Emma Nepean Aitchison.
He was commissi ...
and Olive Blake, (author of ''The Years of the Week'' and ''Figure of Eight''): children Alexander
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
, Andrew
Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in List of countries where English is an official language, English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is freq ...
(husband of Leslie Cockburn
Leslie Cockburn ( ; born Leslie Corkill Redlich on September 2, 1952) is an American investigative journalist, and filmmaker. Her investigative television segments have aired on CBS, NBC, '' PBS Frontline'', and '' 60 Minutes''. She has won an E ...
), Patrick Patrick may refer to:
* Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name
* Patrick (surname), list of people with this name
People
* Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint
*Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...
.
His granddaughters include RadioNation host Laura Flanders
Laura Flanders (born 5 December 1961) is an English broadcast journalist living in the United States who presents the weekly, long-form interview show ''The Laura Flanders Show''. Flanders has described herself as a "lefty person". The brother ...
, ex-BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
.