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, Bu ...

London London is the capital and 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 down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

)"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 in London's West End and is the current producer of the world's longest running play ''

The Mousetrap ''The Mousetrap'' is a murder mystery play by Agatha Christie. ''The Mousetrap'' opened in London's West End in 1952 and ran continuously until 16 March 2020, when the stage performances had to be temporarily discontinued during the COVID-1 ...

''."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 Sen ...

(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 Willis Group Holdings plc was a multinational risk advisor, insurance brokerage and reinsurance brokerage company with its headquarters in the Willis Building in London until its merger of equals with financial services company Towers Watson i ...

) 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 Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and ...

), Criterion,

Donmar Warehouse The Donmar Warehouse is a 251-seat, not-for-profit theatre in Covent Garden, London, England. It first opened on 18 July 1977. Sam Mendes, Michael Grandage and Josie Rourke have all served as artistic director, a post held since 2019 by Mi ...

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 Court, ...

, Whitehall (now

Trafalgar Studios Trafalgar Theatre is a new West End theatre in Whitehall, near Trafalgar Square, in the City of Westminster, London. It is set to open in spring 2021 following a major multi-million pound restoration project aiming to reinstate it back to its ...

) 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 The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on the Strand in the City of Westminster. As the name suggests, the theatre held mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. It opened in 1870 and was rebuilt twice, although each ...

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. Savo ...

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 ''

'' 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 i ...

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 and ...

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 The Society of London Theatre (SOLT) is an umbrella organisation for West End theatre in London. Founded in 1908, as Society of West End Theatre Managers, then Society of West End Theatre in 1975, changing to its current name in 1994, the (SOLT) ...

from 2002–2005, having been a member since 1984 and a board member since 1993. He was a Trustee of The

Theatres Trust The Theatres Trust is the National Advisory Public Body for Theatres in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1976 by an Act of Parliament to "promote the better protection of theatres for the benefit of the nation". The Trust has played a leadi ...

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 Galil ...

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 Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) ( he, אוניברסיטת בן-גוריון בנגב, ''Universitat Ben-Guriyon baNegev'') is a public research university in Beersheba, Israel. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has five campuses: the ...

."Five Outstanding Individuals Honored"
''Ben-Gurion University of the Negev'', Summer 2011. Retrieved 1 December 2012. He was chairman of the

British-American Project The British-American Project (BAP) is a transatlantic fellowship of more than 1,200 leaders and opinion formers from a broad spectrum of occupations, backgrounds and political views. BAP operates on a not-for-profit basis, funded through its member ...

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 church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

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 Sir Bernard Nathaniel Waley-Cohen, 1st Baronet (29 May 1914 – 3 July 1991) was a British businessman. He was the 633rd Lord Mayor of London, elected in 1960. Biography The son of Sir Robert Waley Cohen and Alice (''née'' Beddington), Waley-C ...

, 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