Richard John Mayne (2 April 1926 – 29 November 2009) was a British journalist, broadcaster, writer and advocate of closer

European integration European integration is the process of industrial, economic integration, economic, political, legal, social integration, social, and cultural Regional integration, integration of states wholly or partially in Europe or nearby. European integrat ...

. Mayne was born in North London and educated at St Paul's School in London. Towards the end of the war, because of his linguistic abilities, he was chosen for the

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

(SOE), but spent most of his time in the armed forces with a signals unit. In 1947, he went up to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, where he read History, gaining a starred first-class degree. Work on his PhD in 1953, having gained a

Leverhulme The Leverhulme Trust () is a large national grant-making organisation in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1925 under the will of the 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), with the instruction that its resources should be used to suppo ...

grant, involved a period working in the

Vatican Library The Vatican Apostolic Library ( la, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, it, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. Formally es ...

. From Rome, he began to write for the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

'' and ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

''. Mayne joined the High Authority of the

European Coal and Steel Community The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was a European organization created after World War II to regulate the coal and steel industries. It was formally established in 1951 by the Treaty of Paris, signed by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembo ...

in Luxembourg in 1956 and became an adviser to

Jean Monnet Jean Omer Marie Gabriel Monnet (; 9 November 1888 – 16 March 1979) was a French civil servant, entrepreneur, diplomat, financier, administrator, and political visionary. An influential supporter of European unity, he is considered one of the ...

, and then to

Walter Hallstein Walter Hallstein (17 November 1901 – 29 March 1982) was a German academic, diplomat and statesman who was the first President of the European Commission, President of the European Commission, Commission of the European Economic Community ...

, first President of the European Commission (1958–63). He succeeded

François Duchêne Louis-François Duchêne (17 February 1927 – 12 July 2005) was a journalist and political analyst of European integration who wrote for ''The Economist'' and was professor emeritus at the University of Sussex. He was influenced by his work with J ...

as director of the

Action Committee for the United States of Europe The Action Committee for the United States of Europe (french: Comité d'action pour les États-Unis d'Europe), colloquially referred to as the Monnet Committee, was a collective initiative spearheaded by Jean Monnet from 1955 to 1975 that aimed a ...

in 1963, and served as Monnet's personal assistant. He later translated Monnet's memoirs into English ( Doubleday, 1978), for which he won the

Scott Moncrieff Prize The Scott Moncrieff Prize, named after the translator C. K. Scott Moncrieff, is an annual £2,000 literary award, literary prize for French to English translation, awarded to one or more translators every year for a full-length work deemed by the ...

in 1979. Several associates of Monnet believed Mayne's translation captured "Monnet's voice" better than the French original, which was drafted by François Fontaine. Mayne became the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

's chief representative in the United Kingdom in 1969 (Head of the London office, 1973–76)"Tributes for Richard Mayne"
European Commission, The EU in the United Kingdom and was involved in the campaign for continued membership of the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...

(EEC) during the UK's 1975 referendum. He stepped down from working for the Commission in London when his outlook towards Europe clashed increasingly with that of

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

, following her government's election to power in 1979. From 1966, he was the Paris correspondent for ''

Encounter Encounter or Encounters may refer to: Film *''Encounter'', a 1997 Indian film by Nimmala Shankar * ''Encounter'' (2013 film), a Bengali film * ''Encounter'' (2018 film), an American sci-fi film * ''Encounter'' (2021 film), a British sci-fi film * ...

'', later writing a personal column for the magazine. Mayne also contributed 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 ...

'' and ''

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 ...

''. Among Mayne's publications were ''The Community of Europe'' (1962), ''The Institutions of the European Community'' (1968), ''The Recovery of Europe'' (1970), ''The Europeans'' (1972), ''Postwar: The Dawn of Today's Europe'' (1983) and ''Federal Union: The Pioneers'' (1990).

References

1926 births 2009 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge British civil servants British male journalists People educated at St Paul's School, London British Special Operations Executive personnel 20th-century translators {{Translator-stub