Laurence Victor Thompson (1914 – 6 June 1972) was a British
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 journalism ...
.
['Mr Laurence Thompson', ''The Times'' (8 June 1972), p. 18.]
Career
He was the chief political correspondent for the ''
News Chronicle
The ''News Chronicle'' was a British daily newspaper. Formed by the merger of '' The Daily News'' and the ''Daily Chronicle'' in 1930, it ceased publication on 17 October 1960,''Liberal Democrat News'' 15 October 2010, accessed 15 October 2010 be ...
''.
During the 1956
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...
, Thompson dissented from the critical line taken by the paper's editor,
Michael Curtis, and supported
Anthony Eden
Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, (12 June 1897 – 14 January 1977) was a British Conservative Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1955 until his resignation in 1957.
Achieving rapid promo ...
's decision to retake the
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...
by force. Curtis allowed Thompson to air his views on the paper's feature page.
[Geoffrey Goodman,]
Suez and Fleet Street
, bbc.co.uk (1 November 2006). Retrieved 29 January 2021. The ''News Chronicles circulation declined, which
Geoffrey Goodman
Geoffrey George Goodman (2 July 1922 – 5 September 2013Mike Molloy"Obituary: Geoffrey Goodman" theguardian.com, 6 September 2013.) was a British journalist, broadcaster and writer. Following periods on the ''News Chronicle'' and the '' Daily He ...
attributed to its opposition to Suez, and the paper folded in 1960.
Thompson then worked for ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
''.
During his later career, he was an assistant editor of
ITV News
ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British television network ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the network in 1955, and has since conti ...
and he also worked for
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
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External News.
His biography of the socialist writer
Robert Blatchford
Robert Peel Glanville Blatchford (17 March 1851 – 17 December 1943) was an English socialist campaigner, journalist, and author in the United Kingdom. He was also noted as a prominent atheist, nationalist and opponent of eugenics. In the early ...
was published in 1951. Thompson toured England between late 1950 and early 1951, and his impressions were published under the title ''Portrait of England: News from Somewhere'' (1952). Thompson derived the subtitle from
William Morris
William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...
's ''
News from Nowhere
''News from Nowhere'' (1890) is a classic work combining utopian socialism and soft science fiction written by the artist, designer and socialist pioneer William Morris. It was first published in serial form in the ''Commonweal'' journal beginn ...
'', which had, according to Thompson, predicted 1952 as "the year of revolution from which
Utopia
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...
sprang". ''A Time to Laugh'' (1953) is a comic novel about the son of an African chieftain who enrols as a soldier in 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. In its review, ''
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'' (fou ...
'' called it "an acute and brilliantly suggestive little study... The comedy of the last third of the book is beautifully done".
His history of the
Metropolitan Police
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...
, ''The Story of Scotland Yard'' (1954), was recommended by the
for inclusion in school libraries. They said that "boys will be fascinated by the many true details of the work of
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...
". Thompson's 1956 work, ''The Challenge of Change'', was published by
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
and discussed the work of the
Duke of Edinburgh
Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, was a substantive title that has been created three times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not produc ...
's
Commonwealth Study Conference
The first Commonwealth Study Conference held in Oxford, United Kingdom in 1956 to study the human aspects of industrial issues across Commonwealth countries. The founder of the conference, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, described it as "an extra ...
. The review in ''
Engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
'' said the book was a "brilliant and racy description". In ''1940: Year of Legend, Year of History'', Thompson examined Britain's "finest hour" during the Second World War.
A. J. P. Taylor
Alan John Percivale Taylor (25 March 1906 – 7 September 1990) was a British historian who specialised in 19th- and 20th-century European diplomacy. Both a journalist and a broadcaster, he became well known to millions through his televis ...
said that it "disturbs many complacent versions".
His last published work was ''The Enthusiasts'', a sympathetic joint biography of the socialist politicians
John Bruce Glasier
John Bruce Glasier (25 March 1859 – 4 June 1920) was a Scottish socialist politician, associated mainly with the Independent Labour Party. He was opposed to the First World War.
Biography
Glasier was born in Glasgow as John Bruce, but grew u ...
and
Katharine Glasier
Katharine Glasier (25 September 1867 – 14 June 1950) was an English socialist politician, journalist and novelist. She became a founder member of the Independent Labour Party in 1893.
Early years
Glasier was born in Stoke Newington as Kathar ...
. At the time of his death he was writing a history of the
Labour Party.
Personal life
Thompson married Margot Burrows (29 December 1914 – 19 December 2003) in 1940, during an air raid. They had met while working for ''Film Pictorial''.
['Margot Lawrence', ''The Times'' (15 January 2004), p. 36.]
Works
*''Robert Blatchford: Portrait of an Englishman'' (London: Victor Gollancz, 1951).
*''Portrait of England: News from Somewhere'' (London: Victor Gollancz, 1952).
*''A Time to Laugh'' (London: Andre Deutsch, 1953).
*''The Story of Scotland Yard'' (New York: Random House, 1954).
*''The Challenge of Change'' (London: Oxford University Press, 1956).
*''1940: Year of Legend, Year of History'' (London: Collins, 1966).
*''The Greatest Treason: The Untold Story of Munich'' (New York: W. Morrow, 1968).
*''The Enthusiasts: A Biography of John and Katharine Bruce Glasier'' (London: Victor Gollancz, 1971).
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Laurence
1914 births
1972 deaths
20th-century British journalists
The Observer people