Peter John Frank (6 May 1934 - 14 November 2013)Robert Servic
Obituary: Peter Frank
''The Guardian'', 10 December 2013 was a professor of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n politics in the Department of Government at the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the an ...

and a media commentator on Russian affairs. He was born in

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

and after leaving school in 1950 did

national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

in the Army where he learnt the Russian language. He then trained as a teacher and did post-graduate work at the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

, before becoming a lecturer at the University of Essex in 1968.Peter Frank 1934-2013: A memoir at the University of Essex
. Retrieved 20 November 2013 He was known for his television appearances on ''

Channel 4 News ''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982. Current productions ''Channel 4 News'' ''Channel 4 News'' ...

'' as an expert on the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

. He also contributed to ''

BBC News 24 BBC News (also known as the BBC News Channel) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel for BBC News. It was launched as BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997 at 5:30 pm as part of the BBC's foray into digital domestic telev ...

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

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'' and independent radio stations. After his retirement as a professor he was a Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Essex and wrote a biography of Joseph Richard Bagshawe, the founding secretary of the

Staithes Staithes is a seaside village in the borough of Scarborough in North Yorkshire, England. Easington and Roxby Becks, two brooks that run into Staithes Beck, form the border between the Borough of Scarborough and Redcar and Cleveland. The area l ...

group of painters.

Work

* ''The Soviet Communist Party'' Ronald J. Hill, Peter Frank. Boston : Allen & Unwin, 1986. * ''Yorkshire Fisherfolk: A Social history of the Yorkshire inshore fishing community'' by Peter Frank, Phillimore & Co. Ltd., 2002, *
Sea Painter: The Life and Work of J.R. Bagshawe, Marine Artist
' by Peter Frank, Phillimore & Co. Ltd., 2010,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frank, Peter 1934 births 2013 deaths Academics of the University of Essex British political scientists People from Whitby Military personnel from Yorkshire British Army soldiers 20th-century British Army personnel Alumni of the University of Leeds