Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak-born British
media proprietor
A media proprietor, media mogul or media tycoon refers to a entrepreneur who controls, through personal ownership or via a dominant position in any media-related company or enterprise, media consumed by many individuals. Those with significant co ...
,
member of parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MP), suspected spy, and
fraudster
In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compensa ...
.
Early in his life, Maxwell escaped from
Nazi occupation
German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 ...
in his native country, joined the
Czechoslovak Army in exile during
World War II
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 ...
and was decorated after active service in the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
. In subsequent years he worked in publishing, building up
Pergamon Press
Pergamon Press was an Oxford-based publishing house, founded by Paul Rosbaud and Robert Maxwell, that published scientific and medical books and journals. Originally called Butterworth-Springer, it is now an imprint of Elsevier.
History
The ...
to a major academic publisher. After six years as a
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
MP during the 1960s, Maxwell again put all his energy into business, successively buying the
British Printing Corporation
Maxwell Communication Corporation plc was a leading British media business. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It collapsed in 1991 following the death of its titular owner.
History
The comp ...
,
Mirror Group Newspapers and
Macmillan Publishers
Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...
, among other publishing companies.
Maxwell led a flamboyant lifestyle, living in
Headington Hill Hall
Headington Hill Hall stands on Headington Hill in the east of Oxford, England. It was built in 1824
for the Morrell family, who remained in residence for 114 years. It became the home to Pergamon Press and to media tycoon Robert Maxwell. It cur ...
in
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 ...
, from which he often flew in his helicopter, or sailing in his luxury yacht, the ''
Lady Ghislaine
''Dancing Hare'' (formerly ''Lady Ghislaine'' and ''Lady Mona K'') is a superyacht built by Amels in 1986.
Built for Emad Khashoggi, it was then purchased, also in 1986, by Robert Maxwell, who died by drowning while cruising on the yacht off th ...
''. He was litigious and often embroiled in controversy. In 1989, Maxwell had to sell successful businesses, including
Pergamon Press
Pergamon Press was an Oxford-based publishing house, founded by Paul Rosbaud and Robert Maxwell, that published scientific and medical books and journals. Originally called Butterworth-Springer, it is now an imprint of Elsevier.
History
The ...
, to cover some of his debts. In 1991, his body was discovered floating in the Atlantic Ocean, having apparently fallen overboard from his yacht. He was buried in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
.
Maxwell's death triggered the collapse of his publishing empire as banks called in loans. His sons briefly attempted to keep the business together, but failed as the news emerged that the elder Maxwell had stolen hundreds of millions of pounds from his own companies' pension funds. The Maxwell companies applied for bankruptcy protection in 1992. After his death, huge discrepancies in his companies' finances were revealed, including his fraudulent misappropriation of the
Mirror Group pension fund.
Early life
Robert Maxwell was born into a poor
Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
-speaking
Orthodox Jewish
Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...
family in the small town of Slatinské Doly, in the region of
Carpathian Ruthenia
Carpathian Ruthenia ( rue, Карпатьска Русь, Karpat'ska Rus'; uk, Закарпаття, Zakarpattia; sk, Podkarpatská Rus; hu, Kárpátalja; ro, Transcarpatia; pl, Zakarpacie); cz, Podkarpatská Rus; german: Karpatenukrai ...
,
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
(now
Solotvyno
Solotvyno (also Solotvina) ( uk, Солотвино, hu, Aknaszlatina and hu, Faluszlatina, ro, Slatina, rue, Солотвино, yi, סעלאָטפֿינע (Selotfine), sk, Slatinské Doly) is an urban-type settlement in Tiachiv Raion in Z ...
,
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
).
[Марк Штейнберг. Евреи в войнах тысячелетий. p. 227. ] His parents were Mechel Hoch and Hannah Slomowitz. He had six siblings. In 1939, the area was reclaimed by
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
. Most of Maxwell's family was murdered in
Auschwitz after Hungary was
occupied
' (Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 October ...
in 1944 by
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, but years earlier he had escaped to
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
.
In May 1940, he joined the
Czechoslovak Army in exile in
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...
.
After the
fall of France and the
British retreat to Britain, Maxwell (using the name "Ivan du Maurier", or "Leslie du Maurier",
the surname taken from the name of a
popular cigarette brand) took part in a protest against the leadership of the Czechoslovak Army, and with 500 other soldiers he was transferred to the
Pioneer Corps and later to the
North Staffordshire Regiment
The North Staffordshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, which was in existence between 1881 and 1959. The 64th (2nd Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot was created on 21 April 1758 from the 2nd Battalio ...
in 1943. He was then involved in action across Europe, from the
Normandy beaches to
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, and achieved the rank of
sergeant
Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...
.
Maxwell gained a commission in 1945 and was promoted to the rank of
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
.
In January 1945, Maxwell's heroism in "storming a German machine-gun nest" during the war won him the
Military Cross
The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries.
The MC i ...
, presented by
Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.
Attached to the
Foreign Office
Foreign may refer to:
Government
* Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries
** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government
** Foreign office and foreign minister
* Unit ...
, he served in Berlin during the next two years in the press section.
Maxwell naturalised as a British subject on 19 June 1946 and changed his name by
deed of change of name
A deed of change of name is a legal document used in the United Kingdom, Ireland and some other countries with legal systems based on English common law, to record an intended name change, change of name by a person or family. It is one use of a ...
on 30 June 1948.
In 1945, Maxwell married
Elisabeth "Betty" Meynard, a French
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
, and the couple had nine children over the next 16 years: Michael, Philip, Ann,
Christine
Christine may refer to:
People
* Christine (name), a female given name
Film
* ''Christine'' (1958 film), based on Schnitzler's play ''Liebelei''
* ''Christine'' (1983 film), based on King's novel of the same name
* ''Christine'' (1987 fil ...
,
Isabel
Isabel is a female name of Spanish origin. Isabelle is a name that is similar, but it is of French origin. It originates as the medieval Spanish form of '' Elisabeth'' (ultimately Hebrew ''Elisheva''), Arising in the 12th century, it became popul ...
, Karine,
Ian
Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name in Sc ...
,
Kevin
Kevin () is the anglicized form of the Irish masculine given name (; mga, Caoimhghín ; sga, Cóemgein ; Latinized as ). It is composed of "dear; noble"; Old Irish and ("birth"; Old Irish ).
The variant '' Kevan'' is anglicized from , a ...
and
Ghislaine.
In a 1995 interview, Elisabeth talked of how they were recreating his childhood family who were killed in the
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
. Five of his children – Christine, Isabel, Ian, Kevin and
Ghislaine – were later employed within his companies. His daughter Karine died of
leukaemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...
at age three, while Michael was severely injured in a car crash in 1961, at the age of 15, when his driver fell asleep at the wheel and crashed headlong into another vehicle. Michael never regained consciousness and died seven years later.
After the war, Maxwell used contacts in the
Allied occupation authorities to go into business, becoming the British and US distributor for
Springer Verlag, a publisher of scientific books. In 1951, he bought three-quarters of Butterworth-Springer, a minor publisher; the remaining quarter was held by the experienced scientific editor
Paul Rosbaud
Paul Rosbaud (18 November 1896 – 28 January 1963), was a metallurgist and scientific adviser for Springer Verlag in Germany before and during World War II.
He continued in science publishing after the war with Pergamon Press in Oxford, Engl ...
. They changed the name of the company to
Pergamon Press
Pergamon Press was an Oxford-based publishing house, founded by Paul Rosbaud and Robert Maxwell, that published scientific and medical books and journals. Originally called Butterworth-Springer, it is now an imprint of Elsevier.
History
The ...
and rapidly built it into a major publishing house.
In
1964, representing the
Labour Party, Maxwell was elected as
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MP) for
Buckingham and re-elected in
1966. He gave an interview to ''
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 ...
'' in 1968, in which he said the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
provided him with a problem. "I can't get on with men", he commented. "I tried having male assistants at first. But it didn't work. They tend to be too independent. Men like to have individuality. Women can become an extension of the boss." Maxwell lost his seat in 1970 to
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
challenger
William Benyon. He contested Buckingham again in both 1974 general elections, but without success.
At the beginning of 1969, it emerged that Maxwell's attempt to buy the
tabloid newspaper ''
News of the World'' had failed. The Carr family, which owned the title, was incensed at the thought of a Czechoslovak immigrant with
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
politics gaining ownership, and the board voted against Maxwell's bid without any dissent. The ''
News of the World''s editor,
Stafford Somerfield
Stafford William Somerfield (9 January 1911–14 January 1995)Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 1, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 872 was a British newspaper editor.
Early life
Born in Barnsta ...
, opposed Maxwell's bid in an October 1968 front page opinion piece, in which he referred to Maxwell's Czechoslovak origins and used his birth name. He wrote, "This is a British paper, run by British people ... as British as roast beef and
Yorkshire pudding
Yorkshire pudding is a baked pudding made from a batter of eggs, flour, and milk or water. A common British side dish, it is a versatile food that can be served in numerous ways depending on its ingredients, size, and the accompanying compon ...
... Let us keep it that way". The paper was later purchased by Australian tycoon
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...
, who later that year acquired ''
The Sun'', which had also previously interested Maxwell.
Pergamon lost and regained
In 1969,
Saul Steinberg
Saul Steinberg (June 15, 1914 – May 12, 1999) was a Romanian-American artist, best known for his work for ''The New Yorker'', most notably '' View of the World from 9th Avenue''. He described himself as "a writer who draws".
Biography
S ...
, head of "Leasco Data Processing Corporation", was interested in a strategic acquisition of Pergamon Press. Steinberg claimed that during negotiations, Maxwell falsely stated that a subsidiary responsible for publishing encyclopedias was extremely profitable.
At the same time, Pergamon had been forced to reduce its profit forecasts for 1969 from £2.5 million to £2.05 million during the period of negotiations, and dealing in Pergamon shares was suspended on the
London stock markets.
Maxwell subsequently lost control of Pergamon and was expelled from the board in October 1969, along with three other directors in sympathy with him, by the majority owners of the company's shares. Steinberg purchased Pergamon. An inquiry by the
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) under the Takeover Code of the time reported was conducted by
Rondle Owen Charles Stable and Sir Ronald Leach in mid-1971.
The report concluded: "We regret having to conclude that, notwithstanding Mr Maxwell's acknowledged abilities and energy, he is not in our opinion a person who can be relied on to exercise proper stewardship of a publicly quoted company." It was found that Maxwell had contrived to maximize Pergamon's share price through transactions between his private family companies.
At the same time, the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
was investigating Leasco's takeover practices. Judge
Thayne Forbes
Sir John Thayne Forbes (born 28 June 1938) is a retired British judge and barrister. As a High Court judge, he presided over the trial of Harold Shipman who was convicted of 15 murders in 2000 and subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment. Sh ...
in September 1971 was critical of the inquiry: "They had moved from an inquisitorial role to accusatory one and virtually committed the business murder of Mr. Maxwell." He further continued that the trial judge would probably find that the inspectors had acted "contrary to the rules of natural justice".
[Betty Maxwell, p. 542] The company performed poorly under Steinberg; Maxwell reacquired Pergamon in 1974 after borrowing funds.
Maxwell established the Maxwell Foundation in Liechtenstein in 1970. He acquired the British Printing Corporation (BPC) in 1981 and changed its name first to the British Printing and Communication Corporation (BPCC) and then to the
Maxwell Communication Corporation
Maxwell Communication Corporation plc was a leading British media business. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It collapsed in 1991 following the death of its titular owner.
History
The com ...
(MCC). The company was later sold in a
management buyout and is now known as Polestar.
Later business activities
In July 1984, Maxwell acquired
Mirror Group Newspapers, the publisher of six British newspapers, including the ''
Daily Mirror
The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...
'', from
Reed International plc.
for £113 million. This led to the famous media war between Maxwell and Murdoch, the proprietor of the ''News of the World'' and ''
The Sun''.
Mirror Group Newspapers (formerly Trinity Mirror, now part of
Reach plc), published the ''
Daily Mirror
The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...
'', a pro-
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
tabloid; ''
Sunday Mirror''; ''
Sunday People'';
''Scottish Sunday Mail'' and ''
Scottish Daily Record
The ''Daily Record'' is a national tabloid newspaper which is published online also based in Glasgow, Scotland. The newspaper is published Monday-Saturday while the website is updated on an hourly basis, seven days a week. The ''Records sis ...
''. At a press conference to publicize his acquisition, Maxwell said his editors would be "free to produce the news without interference".
Meanwhile, at a meeting of Maxwell's new employees, ''Mirror'' journalist
Joe Haines asserted that he was able to prove that their boss was "a crook and a liar".
Haines quickly came under Maxwell's influence and later wrote his authorised biography.
In June 1985, Maxwell announced a takeover of
Clive Sinclair's ailing
home computer company,
Sinclair Research
Sinclair Research Ltd is a British consumer electronics company founded by Clive Sinclair in Cambridge. It was originally incorporated in 1973 as Westminster Mail Order Ltd, renamed Sinclair Instrument Ltd, then Science of Cambridge Ltd, then ...
, through Hollis Brothers, a Pergamon subsidiary.
The deal was aborted in August 1985.
In 1987, Maxwell purchased part of
IPC Media to create
Fleetway Publications. The same year, he launched the ''
London Daily News
The ''London Daily News'' was a short-lived London newspaper owned by Robert Maxwell. It was published from 24 February to 23 July 1987.
History
The ''London Daily News'' was intended to be a "24-hour" paper challenging the local dominance of t ...
'' in February after a delay caused by production problems, but the paper closed in July after sustaining significant losses contemporary estimates put at £25 million. Originally intended to be a rival of the ''
Evening Standard
The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format.
In October 2009, after be ...
'', Maxwell eventually decided to make it the first 24-hour paper as well.
In May 1987, Maxwell's British Printing and Communication Corporation (BPCC) made an unsolicited bid to acquire U.S. publishing conglomerate
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
Harcourt () was an American publishing firm with a long history of publishing fiction and nonfiction for adults and children. The company was last based in San Diego, California, with editorial/sales/marketing/rights offices in New York City a ...
. HBJ defended itself from the hostile takeover attempt by going deeply into debt to make large cash payments to shareholders. The strain of the debt was a factor in HBJ's 1989 sale of its theme park holdings to
Anheuser-Busch
Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV ( AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple ...
. HBJ's theme park assets included the
SeaWorld
SeaWorld is an American theme park chain with headquarters in Orlando, Florida. It is a proprietor of marine mammal parks, oceanariums, animal theme parks, and rehabilitation centers owned by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment (one park will be ...
chain, which HBJ had purchased in 1976.
By 1988, Maxwell's various companies owned, in addition to the Mirror titles and Pergamon Press,
Nimbus Records
Nimbus Records is a British record company based at Wyastone Leys, Ganarew, Herefordshire. They specialise in classical music recordings and were the first company in the UK to produce compact discs.
Description
Nimbus was founded in 1972 by ...
, Maxwell Directories,
Prentice Hall Information Services and the
Berlitz language schools
Berlitz Corporation is a language education and leadership training company which is based in Princeton, New Jersey. The company was founded in 1878 by Maximilian Berlitz in Providence, Rhode Island in the United States. Berlitz Corporation is o ...
. He also owned a half-share of
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
in Europe and other European television interests, Maxwell Cable TV and Maxwell Entertainment.
Maxwell purchased
Macmillan Publishers
Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...
, the American firm, for $2.6 billion in 1988. In the same year, he launched an ambitious new project, a transnational newspaper called ''
The European''. In 1991, Maxwell was forced to sell Pergamon and Maxwell Directories to
Elsevier
Elsevier () is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as ''The Lancet'', ''Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, '' Trends'', th ...
for £440 million to cover his debts;
he used some of this money to buy an ailing tabloid, the New York City ''
Daily News''. The same year Maxwell sold 49 percent of the stock of Mirror Group Newspapers to the public.
Maxwell's links with Eastern European
totalitarian
Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and reg ...
regimes resulted in several biographies of those countries' leaders, with interviews conducted by Maxwell, for which he received much derision.
At the beginning of an interview with
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
's
Nicolae Ceaușescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu ( , ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He ...
, then the country's
communist leader, he asked, "How do you account for your enormous popularity with the Romanian people?"
![Oxford brookes headington hill](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Oxford_brookes_headington_hill.JPG)
Maxwell was also the chairman of
Oxford United
Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and t ...
, saving them from bankruptcy and attempting to merge them with
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...
in 1983 to form a club he wished to call "
Thames Valley Royals". He took Oxford into the top flight of English football in 1985, and the team won the
League Cup
In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...
a year later. Maxwell used the club's
old grounds, close to his office at
Headington Hill Hall
Headington Hill Hall stands on Headington Hill in the east of Oxford, England. It was built in 1824
for the Morrell family, who remained in residence for 114 years. It became the home to Pergamon Press and to media tycoon Robert Maxwell. It cur ...
, to land his helicopter – fans would chant, "He's fat, he's round, he's never on the ground". Maxwell also bought into
Derby County
Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group.
Founded in 188 ...
in 1987. He attempted to buy
Manchester United in 1984, but refused owner
Martin Edwards
Charles Martin Edwards (born 24 July 1945) is the former chairman of Manchester United, a position he held from 1980 until 2002. He now holds the position of honorary life president at the club and Director of Inview Technology Ltd.
Biography
...
's asking price.
A bugged version of the intelligence spy software
PROMIS was sold in the mid-1980s for
Soviet
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 nation ...
government use, with Maxwell as a conduit.
Maxwell was known to be litigious against those who would speak or write against him. The satirical magazine ''
Private Eye'' lampooned him as "Cap'n Bob" and the "bouncing Czech", the latter nickname having originally been devised by Prime Minister
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...
(under whom Maxwell was an MP). Maxwell took out several
libel actions against ''Private Eye'', one resulting in the magazine losing an estimated £225,000 and Maxwell using his commercial power to hit back with a one-off spoof magazine ''
Not Private Eye''.
Israeli controversy
1948 war
A hint of Maxwell's service to Israel was provided by
John Loftus and
Mark Aarons
Mark Aarons (born 25 December 1951) is an Australian journalist and author. He was a political adviser to New South Wales Premier Bob Carr.
Biography
Aarons was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, but he was brought up in Sydney. He was educat ...
, who described Maxwell's contacts with Czechoslovak communist leaders in 1948 as crucial to the Czechoslovak decision to
arm Israel in the
1948 Arab–Israeli War
The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...
. Czechoslovak military assistance was both unique and crucial for Israel as it battled for its existence. According to Loftus and Aarons, it was Maxwell's covert help in smuggling aircraft parts into Israel that led to the country having
air superiority during their
1948 war of independence.
Mossad allegations; Vanunu case
The
Foreign Office
Foreign may refer to:
Government
* Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries
** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government
** Foreign office and foreign minister
* Unit ...
suspected that Maxwell was a secret agent of a foreign government, possibly a
double agent
In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organi ...
or a
triple agent
In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organi ...
, and "a thoroughly bad character and almost certainly financed by
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 ...
". He had known links to the British
Secret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
(MI6), to the Soviet
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
, and to the Israeli intelligence service
Mossad. Six serving and former heads of Israeli intelligence services attended Maxwell's funeral in Israel, while
Israeli Prime Minister
The prime minister of Israel ( he, רֹאשׁ הַמֶּמְשָׁלָה, Rosh HaMemshala, Head of the Government, Hebrew acronym: he2, רה״מ; ar, رئيس الحكومة, ''Ra'īs al-Ḥukūma'') is the head of government and chief exe ...
Yitzhak Shamir
Yitzhak Shamir ( he, יצחק שמיר, ; born Yitzhak Yezernitsky; October 22, 1915 – June 30, 2012) was an Israeli politician and the seventh Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms, 1983–1984 and 1986–1992. Before the establishment ...
eulogised him and stated: "He has done more for Israel than can today be told."
Shortly before Maxwell's death, a former employee of Israel's
Military Intelligence Directorate,
Ari Ben-Menashe
Ari Ben-Menashe ( he, ארי בן מנשה, link=no; born 4 December 1951) is an Israeli-Canadian businessman, security consultant, and author. He was previously an employee of Israel's Military Intelligence Directorate from 1977 to 1987, and an ...
, approached a number of news organisations in Britain and the US with the allegation that Maxwell and the ''Daily Mirror''s foreign editor,
Nicholas Davies, were both long-time agents for Mossad. Ben-Menashe also claimed that, in 1986, Maxwell informed the
Israeli Embassy in London that
Mordechai Vanunu
Mordechai Vanunu ( he, מרדכי ואנונו; born 14 October 1952), also known as John Crossman, is an Israeli former nuclear technician and peace activist who, citing his opposition to weapons of mass destruction, revealed details of Israe ...
revealed information about
Israel's nuclear capability to ''
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
'', then to the ''Daily Mirror''. Vanunu was subsequently
kidnap
In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...
ped by Mossad and smuggled to Israel, convicted of
treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
, and imprisoned for 18 years.
Ben-Menashe's story was ignored at first, but eventually journalist
Seymour Hersh
Seymour Myron "Sy" Hersh (born April 8, 1937) is an American Investigative journalism, investigative journalist and political writer.
Hersh first gained recognition in 1969 for exposing the My Lai Massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam Wa ...
of ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' repeated some of the allegations during a press conference in London held to publicize ''
The Samson Option'', Hersh's book about Israel's nuclear weapons. On 21 October 1991, Labour MP
George Galloway and
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
MP
Rupert Allason
Rupert William Simon Allason (born 8 November 1951) is a British former Conservative Party politician and professional author. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Torbay in Devon, from 1987 to 1997. He writes books and articles on the sub ...
(also known as espionage author Nigel West) agreed to raise the issue in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
under
parliamentary privilege protection, which in turn allowed British newspapers to report events without fear of libel suits. Maxwell called the claims "ludicrous, a total invention" and fired Davies.
A year later, in Galloway's libel settlement against Mirror Group Newspapers (in which Galloway received "substantial"
damages
At common law, damages are a remedy in the form of a monetary award to be paid to a claimant as compensation for loss or injury. To warrant the award, the claimant must show that a breach of duty has caused foreseeable loss. To be recognised at ...
), Galloway's counsel announced that the MP accepted that the group's staff had not been involved in Vanunu's abduction. Galloway referred to Maxwell as "one of the worst criminals of the century".
Death
On 4 November 1991, Maxwell had an argumentative phone call with his son Kevin over a meeting scheduled with the
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...
on Maxwell's
default on £50,000,000 in loans. Maxwell missed the meeting, instead travelling to his yacht, the ''
Lady Ghislaine
''Dancing Hare'' (formerly ''Lady Ghislaine'' and ''Lady Mona K'') is a superyacht built by Amels in 1986.
Built for Emad Khashoggi, it was then purchased, also in 1986, by Robert Maxwell, who died by drowning while cruising on the yacht off th ...
'', in the
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...
, Spain.
On 5 November, Maxwell was last in contact with the crew of ''Lady Ghislaine'' at 4:25 a.m. local time, but was found to be missing later in the morning.
It has been speculated that Maxwell was urinating into the ocean nude at the time, as he often did.
He was presumed to have fallen overboard from the vessel, which was cruising off the Canary Islands, southwest of Spain.
Maxwell's naked body was recovered from the Atlantic Ocean and taken to
Las Palmas
Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spain, Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, on the Atlantic Ocean.
It is the capital (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife), the most populous city in th ...
.
Besides a "graze to his left shoulder", there were no noticeable wounds on Maxwell's body.
The official ruling at an
inquest held in December 1991 was death by a heart attack combined with accidental
drowning
Drowning is a type of suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid. Most instances of fatal drowning occur alone or in situations where others present are either unaware of the victim's situation or unable to offer as ...
,
although three pathologists had been unable to agree on the cause of his death at the inquest;
he had been found to have been suffering from serious heart and lung conditions. Murder was ruled out by the judge and, in effect, so was suicide.
His son discounted the possibility of suicide, saying, "I think it is highly unlikely that he would have taken his own life, it wasn't in his makeup or his mentality."
Maxwell was afforded a lavish funeral in Israel, attended by
Israeli Prime Minister
The prime minister of Israel ( he, רֹאשׁ הַמֶּמְשָׁלָה, Rosh HaMemshala, Head of the Government, Hebrew acronym: he2, רה״מ; ar, رئيس الحكومة, ''Ra'īs al-Ḥukūma'') is the head of government and chief exe ...
Yitzhak Shamir
Yitzhak Shamir ( he, יצחק שמיר, ; born Yitzhak Yezernitsky; October 22, 1915 – June 30, 2012) was an Israeli politician and the seventh Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms, 1983–1984 and 1986–1992. Before the establishment ...
, Israeli President
Chaim Herzog
Major-General Chaim Herzog ( he, חיים הרצוג; 17 September 1918 – 17 April 1997) was an Irish-born Israeli politician, general, lawyer and author who served as the sixth President of Israel between 1983 and 1993. Born in Belfast and ...
, at least six serving and former heads of Israeli intelligence and many dignitaries and politicians, both government and opposition, and was buried on the
Mount of Olives
The Mount of Olives or Mount Olivet ( he, הַר הַזֵּיתִים, Har ha-Zeitim; ar, جبل الزيتون, Jabal az-Zaytūn; both lit. 'Mount of Olives'; in Arabic also , , 'the Mountain') is a mountain ridge east of and adjacent to Jeru ...
in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
. Herzog delivered the eulogy, and the
Kaddish
Kaddish or Qaddish or Qadish ( arc, קדיש "holy") is a hymn praising God that is recited during Jewish prayer services. The central theme of the Kaddish is the magnification and sanctification of God's name. In the liturgy, different version ...
was recited by his fellow Holocaust survivor, friend and longtime attorney
Samuel Pisar
Samuel Pisar (March 18, 1929 – July 27, 2015) was a Polish-American lawyer, author, and a Holocaust survivor.
Early life
Pisar was born in Białystok, Poland, to Jewish parents David and Helaina (née Suchowolska) Pisar. His father established ...
.
British Prime Minister
John Major
Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...
said Maxwell had given him "valuable insights" into the situation in the Soviet Union during the
attempted coup of 1991. He was a "great character", Major added.
Neil Kinnock
Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock (born 28 March 1942) is a British former politician. As a member of the Labour Party, he served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995, first for Bedwellty and then for Islwyn. He was the Leader of ...
, then Labour Party leader, spoke of him as a man with "a zest for life" who "attracted controversy, envy and loyalty in great measure throughout his rumbustious life."
A production crew conducting research for ''
Maxwell'', a 2007 biographical film by the
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. ...
...
, uncovered tapes stored in a suitcase owned by his former head of security, John Pole. Later in his life, Maxwell had become increasingly paranoid about his own employees and had the offices of those he suspected of disloyalty
so he could hear their conversations. After Maxwell's death, the tapes remained in Pole's suitcase and were discovered by the researchers only in 2007.
Maxwell's death triggered instability for his publishing empire, with banks frantically calling in their massive loans. Despite the efforts of his sons Kevin and Ian, the Maxwell companies soon collapsed. It emerged that, without adequate prior authorisation, Maxwell had used hundreds of millions of pounds from his companies'
s to shore up the shares of the Mirror Group to save his companies from bankruptcy.
Eventually, the pension funds were replenished with money from investment banks
, as well as the British government. This replenishment was limited and also supported by a surplus in the printers' fund, which was taken by the government in part payment of £100 million required to support the workers' state pensions. The rest of the £100 million was waived. Maxwell's theft of pension funds was therefore partly repaid from public funds. The result was that in general, pensioners received about half of their company pension entitlement.
The Maxwell companies filed for bankruptcy protection in 1992. Kevin Maxwell was declared bankrupt with debts of £400 million. In 1995, Kevin, Ian and two other former directors went on trial for
, but were unanimously acquitted by a 12-person jury the following year.
In November 1994, Maxwell's widow Elisabeth published her memoirs, ''A Mind of My Own: My Life with Robert Maxwell'', which sheds light on her life with him, when the publishing magnate was ranked as one of the richest people in the world. Having earned her degree from
and worked as a proponent of Jewish-Christian dialogue. She died on 7 August 2013.
In July 2020, Maxwell's youngest child, his daughter
with six federal crimes, involving minors' trade, travel, and seduction to engage in criminal sexual activity, and conspiracy to entice children to engage in illegal sex acts, allegedly linked to a
the previous year). She was convicted on 29 December 2021, and sentenced to 20 years in prison on 28 June 2022.
, was used as inspiration for the villainous media baron Elliot Carver in the 1997
adaptation. At the film's conclusion,
orders a story spun disguising Carver's demise at Bond's hands, saying that Carver is believed to have committed suicide by jumping off his yacht in the
, was aired on 4 May 2007. Suchet won the
for his performance as Maxwell.
about Maxwell's life, ''Lies Have Been Told'', written by Rod Beacham, was performed by Phillip York at London's
, is based on Aviv's investigation into the death of Robert Maxwell.
* Maxwell pressured Soviet leader
.
'', a recurring joke is Alan B'Stard's knowledge that Maxwell faked his death and is still alive. In the fifth episode, B'Stard visits war-torn
, ostensibly to negotiate a peace treaty, but his plan all along has been to smuggle Maxwell out of the country to a luxury hideaway, in return for a handsome slice of the Mirror Group funds. It transpires, however, that Maxwell has already spent the money, and the episode ends with a vengeful B'Stard giving him "an amazing
experience" by pushing him over the side of his yacht, where he presumably dies.
Ketupa.net, a media industry resource
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Henderson, Albert, (2004) ''The Dash and Determination of Robert Maxwell, Champion of Dissemination'', ''LOGOS''. 15,2, pp. 65–75.
*
* Robert N. Miranda (2001) ''Robert Maxwell: Forty-four years as Publisher'', in E. H. Frederiksson ed., ''A Century of Science Publishing'', IOS Press
*
* Thomas, Gordon and Dillon, Martin. (2002). ''Robert Maxwell: Israel's Superspy: The Life and Murder of a Media Mogul'', Carroll and Graf,