Russell Miller (born 1938) is a British journalist and author of fifteen books, including biographies of

Hugh Hefner Hugh Marston Hefner (April 9, 1926 – September 27, 2017) was an American magazine publisher. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of ''Playboy'' magazine, a publication with revealing photographs and articles which provoked charges of obsc ...

J. Paul Getty Jean Paul Getty Sr. (; December 15, 1892 – June 6, 1976) was an American-born British petroleum industrialist who founded the Getty Oil Company in 1942 and was the patriarch of the Getty family. A native of Minneapolis, he was the son of pio ...

and

L. Ron Hubbard Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (March 13, 1911 – January 24, 1986) was an American author, primarily of science fiction and fantasy stories, who is best known for having founded the Church of Scientology. In 1950, Hubbard authored '' Dianetic ...

. While under contract to ''

The Sunday Times Magazine ''The Sunday Times Magazine'' is a magazine included with ''The Sunday Times''. In 1962 it became the first colour supplement to be published as a supplement to a UK newspaper, and its arrival "broke the mould of weekend newspaper publishing". ...

'' he won four press awards and was voted Writer of the Year by the Society of British Magazine Editors. His book ''Magnum: Fifty Years at the Front Line of History: The Story of the Legendary Photo Agency'' (1999) on

Magnum Photos Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices in New York City, Paris, London and Tokyo. It was founded in 1947 in Paris by photographers Robert Capa, David "Chim" Seymour, Maria Eisne ...

, was described by John Simpson as "the best book on photo-journalism I have ever read". His oral histories of D-Day, ''Nothing Less Than Victory'' (1993), and the

SOE SOE may refer to: Organizations * State-owned enterprise * Special Operations Executive, a British World War II clandestine sabotage and resistance organisation ** Special Operations Executive in the Netherlands, or Englandspiel * Society of Ope ...

, ''Behind The Lines'' (2002) were widely acclaimed, both in Britain and in the United States.

Life and work

Miller was born in east London and began his career in journalism at the age of sixteen. In the early 1980s, Miller decided to write a biographical trilogy on the subjects of sex, money, and religion. The books that followed were ''Bunny'' (on

, published in 1984), ''The House of Getty'' (on

, 1985), and ''Bare-faced Messiah: The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard'' (on

, 1987).

L. Ron Hubbard biography

In the 1980s Miller spent two years researching ''Bare-faced Messiah'', a posthumous biography of the science-fiction author who had founded

Scientology Scientology is a set of beliefs and practices invented by American author L. Ron Hubbard, and an associated movement. It has been variously defined as a cult, a Scientology as a business, business, or a new religious movement. The most recent ...

. The book challenges the official account of Hubbard's life and work promoted by the

Church of Scientology The Church of Scientology is a group of interconnected corporate entities and other organizations devoted to the practice, administration and dissemination of Scientology, which is variously defined as a cult, a business, or a new religious ...

and it was serialised in ''

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 ...

''. While researching the book in the United States, Miller was spied upon. His friends and business associates also received visits from Scientologists and private detectives. Attempts were made to frame him for the murder of a London private detective, the murder of American singer

Dean Reed Dean Cyril Reed (September 22, 1938 – June 13, 1986) was an American actor, singer-songwriter, director, and social activist who lived a great part of his adult life in South America and then in East Germany. Nicknamed the Red Elvis, Reed was ...

in East Berlin and a fire in an aircraft factory. Senior executives at publishers Michael Joseph, and at ''The Sunday Times'', which serialised the book, received threatening phone calls and also a visit from private investigator Eugene Ingram, who worked for the Church. Another private investigator, Jarl Grieve Einar Cynewulf, told ''The Sunday Times'' journalists that he had been offered "large sums of money" to find a link between Miller and the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

(CIA).

Bibliography

* '' The Resistance'' (1979) * ''The East Indiamen'' (1980) * ''The Commandos'' by Russell Miller & The Editors of ''Time-Life Books'' * ''Continents in Collision'' (1983) * ''The Soviet Air Force'' (1983) * ''Bunny'' (1984), a biography of

. * ''The House of Getty'' (1985), a biography of

. * ''

Bare-faced Messiah ''Bare-faced Messiah: The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard'' is a posthumous biography of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard by British journalist Russell Miller. First published in the United Kingdom on 26 October 1987, the book takes a critical p ...

'' (1987), a biography of

. * ''Body and Soul: How to Succeed in Business and Change the World'', with

Anita Roddick Dame Anita Lucia Roddick (23 October 1942 – 10 September 2007) was a British businesswoman, human rights activist and environmental campaigner, best known as the founder of the British version of The Body Shop, now The Body Shop Internation ...

(1992) * ''Nothing Less Than Victory: An Oral History of D-Day'' (1993) * ''Ten Days in May: The People's Story of VE Day'' (1995) * ''Magnum: Fifty Years at the Front Line of History: The Story of the Legendary Photo Agency'' (1999) * ''Behind The Lines: The Oral History of Special Operations in World War II'' (2002) * ''Codename Tricycle: The True Story of the Second World War's most extraordinary Double Agent'' (2004), a biography of Dušan Popov. * ''The Adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle: A Biography'' (2008) * ''Uncle Bill: the Authorised Biography of Field Marshal Sir William Slim of Burma'' (2013) * ''Boom: The Life of Viscount Trenchard, Father of the Royal Air Force'' (2016)

Awards

*Colour Magazine Writer of the Year, British Press Awards 1990 *Four Press Awards, ''

'' *Writer of the Year,

British Society of Magazine Editors The British Society of Magazine Editors (BSME) is a professional association of print and online magazine editors in the United Kingdom. Established in 1981, the BSME has 148 members. Its annual awards—the BSME Awards and the BSME Rising Stars ...

Television appearances

In his capacity as Hubbard's biographer, Miller appeared in three British television documentaries: * ''Facing South: The Cult Business'' broadcast on

TVS TVS may refer to: Mathematics * Topological vector space Television * Television Sydney, TV channel in Sydney, Australia * Television South, ITV franchise holder in the South of England between 1982 and 1992 * TVS Television Network, US distr ...

(southern England regional TV), November 1987 * ''The Big Story: Inside the Cult'' made by Carlton TV and broadcast on ITV, 13 July 1995 * ''

Scientology and Me ''Scientology and Me'' is a television documentary first broadcast on 14 May 2007 as part of the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC's ''Panorama (TV series), Panorama'' series. In it, reporter John Sweeney (journalist), John Sweeney visited t ...

'' broadcast on BBC One, 14 May 2007

References

External links

*''Bare-Faced Messiah'' by Miller (full text) �
PDF version
an
HTML version
(from ''Punch'', February 1988) {{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Russell 1930s births Living people Year of birth uncertain British male journalists British non-fiction writers Critics of Scientology