Sir Stephen Harry Waley-Cohen, 2nd Baronet (born 22 June 1946 in

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buck ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

)"Sir Stephen Waley-Cohen, Bt Authorised Biography"
''Debrett's People of Today''. Retrieved 1 December 2012. is an English theatre owner-manager and producer, following a career as a businessman and financial journalist. He manages the

St. Martin's Theatre St Martin's Theatre is a West End theatre which has staged the production of ''The Mousetrap'' since March 1974, making it the longest continuous run of any show in the world. The theatre is located in West Street, near Shaftesbury Avenue, in t ...

in London's

West End West End most commonly refers to: * West End of London, an area of central London, England * West End theatre, a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London, England West End may also refer to: Pl ...

and is the current producer of the world's longest running play '' The Mousetrap''."Victoria Palace Licenses AudienceView Ticketing Solution"
, '' AudienceView Ticketing Company'', 22 January 2009. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
''Whatsonstage.com'', 25 November 2011. Retrieved 1 December 2012. He was Chairman of the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Sena ...

(RADA) Council."RADA Governance and Advisors"
''RADA'' from 2007 to 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2014.

Career

Business

Waley-Cohen was a financial journalist, at the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'' from 1968–73, and a founder director and publisher at Euromoney Publications (which later became

Euromoney Institutional Investor Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC is one of Europe's largest business and financial information companies which has interests in business and financial publishing and event organization. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a c ...

PLC) from 1969–83. He was involved with the insurance business, including as chairman of Willis Faber & Dumas (Agencies) (part of what became the Willis Group) from 1992–99, director of the Stewart Wrightson Members Agency Ltd 1987–98 and chairman of Policy Portfolio plc from 1993–98. He was chairman of First Call Group plc from 1996–98 and of Portsmouth & Sunderland Newspaper plc from 1998–99. He was a director of Exeter Preferred Capital Investment Trust plc 1992–2003.

Theatre

Waley-Cohen has been a theatre owner and manager since 1984 when he was Joint Chief Executive of Maybox Group, which managed the Albery (now named the Noël Coward),

Criterion Criterion, or its plural form criteria, may refer to: General * Criterion, Oregon, a historic unincorporated community in the United States * Criterion Place, a proposed skyscraper in West Yorkshire, England * Criterion Restaurant, in London, Eng ...

, Donmar Warehouse,

Piccadilly Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road that connects central London to Hammersmith, Earl's Cou ...

, Whitehall (now Trafalgar Studios) and Wyndham's theatres, until it was sold in 1989. In 1989 he became managing director of the Victoria Palace Theatre, and took on the management of the St. Martin's Theatre. He managed the Vaudeville Theatre from 1996–2001 and the

Savoy Savoy (; frp, Savouè ; french: Savoie ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south. ...

from 1997–2005. In April 2007 he took over the Ambassadors Theatre. In 2014, he sold the Victoria Palace to Delfont Mackintosh Theatres. He became the producer of '' The Mousetrap'' in 1994. During his time managing the St. Martin's Theatre, he had got to know ''The Mousetrap'''s producer, Peter Saunders. Waley-Cohen said, "When aunderswanted to retire at the age of 80, he picked up the phone to me".Valerie Lawson
"The Mousetrap a veritable money trap"
''The Australian Financial Review'', 8 July 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2012. Mousetrap Productions, of which Waley-Cohen is the sole director, is licensed to produce the play by Mathew Prichard,

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...

's grandson, to whom she gave the rights to ''The Mousetrap'' when he was nine. In 1997, Waley-Cohen launched the education charity, Mousetrap Theatre Projects."Mousetrap Theatre Projects – History"
''Mousetrap Theatre Projects'', 15 March 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2012. The charity brings disadvantaged young people into the West End to experience theatre, and runs access, education and audience development programmes. The charity had taken over 100,000 young people to the theatre by 2012.

Politics

Waley-Cohen stood unsuccessfully as the

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 ...

candidate in both the General Elections in 1974 for the

Manchester Gorton Manchester Gorton is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Labour's Afzal Khan, who was elected at the 2017 general election. It is the safest Labour seat in Greater Manchester by numerical majority an ...

constituency.

Appointments and honours

Waley-Cohen was Chairman of the RADA Council until 2021 (a position to which he was elected in September 2007), and Chairman of RADA's Development Board. He was President of the Society of London Theatre from 2002–2005, having been a member since 1984 and a board member since 1993. He was a Trustee of The Theatres Trust from 1998–2004. He is President of the JCA Charitable Foundation, which supports projects for education, agriculture and tourism in rural areas of Israel such as

Galilee Galilee (; he, הַגָּלִיל, hagGālīl; ar, الجليل, al-jalīl) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Galilee traditionally refers to the mountainous part, divided into Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and Lower Gali ...

and the

Negev The Negev or Negeb (; he, הַנֶּגֶב, hanNegév; ar, ٱلنَّقَب, an-Naqab) is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southe ...

. In 2011 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev."Five Outstanding Individuals Honored"
''Ben-Gurion University of the Negev'', Summer 2011. Retrieved 1 December 2012. He was chairman of the British-American Project executive committee from 1989–92, and continued to have a role in its subsequent development. As a hereditary

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

, Waley-Cohen is styled ''Sir'' as part of his baronetcy – the title is not a

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

Personal life

Waley-Cohen has three children by his first marriage, to Pamela Doniger, and two with the American sculptor Josie Spencer, including the violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen,Tasmin Waley-Cohen, website
/ref> composer

Freya Waley-Cohen Freya Waley-Cohen (born 20 February 1989) is a British-American composer based in London. Biography Waley-Cohen grew up in an arts-oriented family. Her mother is the American sculptor Josie Spencer and her father is English theatre manager and pr ...

and the businessman Jack Waley-Cohen. His nephew is the successful amateur jockey Sam Waley-Cohen. His father, Bernard Waley-Cohen, was Lord Mayor of London.

Arms

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waley-Cohen, Stephen 1946 births People educated at Eton College Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge English theatre managers and producers English businesspeople English Jews Daily Mail journalists Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom People associated with the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Living people Cohen family