Edward Donough "Toby" O'Brien (21 November 1909 – 9 January 1979) was a British journalist and propaganda expert, involved in espionage, who spearheaded Britain's efforts to counter Nazi Germany propaganda 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 ...

Early life and education

O'Brien was born on the

Baluchistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

border in India; his father was Colonel Aubrey O'Brien, an Indian Army officer. At the age of five O'Brien was sent to England. Four years later he began attending

St Cyprian's School St Cyprian's School was an English preparatory school for boys, which operated in the early 20th century in Eastbourne, East Sussex. Like other preparatory schools, its purpose was to train pupils to do well enough in the examinations (usuall ...

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...

following his elder brother, Turlough. As his elder brother's initials TOB had given rise to the nickname Toby, he was known as Toby2, leading to subsequent confusion. He became friends with

Alaric Jacob Harold Alaric Jacob (8 June 1909 – 26 January 1995) was an English writer and journalist. He was a Reuters correspondent in Washington in the 1930s and a war correspondent during World War II in North Africa, Burma and Moscow. Early life Alar ...

, and despite their political differences, O'Brien would refer to Jacob as his oldest friend. O'Brien won a scholarship as one of the first batch of pupils to newly opened

Stowe School , motto_translation = I stand firm and I stand first , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent school, day & boarding , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster ...

and then earned a scholarship to

Exeter College, Oxford Exeter College (in full: The Rector and Scholars of Exeter College in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth-oldest college of the un ...

. Before Oxford he spent a term in Germany at

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

. At

Oxford University 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 ...

he was President of the

Oxford Union The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford England, whose membership is drawn primarily from the University of Oxford. Founded in 1823, it is one of Britain's oldest ...

in 1932 and took part in a transatlantic debate with

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Journalism and propaganda

O'Brien became a journalist, working at the ''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'', initially as assistant and eventually as editor of the Peterborough column. In 1936 he went to Germany ostensibly as a reporter but with a hidden agenda of assessing the Nazi regime and possible opponents of it. In 1938 he was recruited to the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

as a press officer. His duties, which were to secure favourable publicity for the council and its activities and to provide articles and photographs for the foreign press, in fact represented Britain's counter to Goebbels'

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

propaganda. Aside from maintaining a network of supporters in the foreign press and pointing out German lies (including their claims that they had sunk Royal Navy ships, which were, in fact, inland naval bases bearing the HMS prefix), according to his son

Donough The Irish surname Donough originally appeared in Gaelic as Mac Donough, which means son of Donnchadh or son of Donagh, a personal name composed of the elements donn meaning ‘brown-haired’ or "dark" from Donn a Gaelic God; and chadh, meaning ...

, O'Brien penned the lyrics to the

Colonel Bogey The "Colonel Bogey March" is a Music of the United Kingdom, British March (music), march that was composed in 1914 by Lieutenant F. J. Ricketts (1881–1945) (pen name Kenneth J. Alford), a British Army bandmaster who later became the director ...

tune " Hitler Has Only Got One Ball". During the war, he was also involved in espionage for the government, which due to its delicate nature was classified at the time. During the period of 1947 to 1948, he was tasked with protecting the founder of the newly formed nation of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Public relations

After the war O'Brien became public relations adviser for Rootes and was then recruited to the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, leading the election campaigns which led to the

hung parliament A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition (also known as an alliance or bloc) has an absolute majority of legisl ...

of 1950 and the Conservative victory in 1951. He became a public relations consultant, and one of his first clients was the government of

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

which wanted to promote tourism. O'Brien had once before been involved with Spain in the 30s, when the plot to transport Franco in a privately owned Dragon Rapide to meet with his forces in Morocco, was concocted by senior figures of the 1936 '

pronunciamiento A ''pronunciamiento'' (, pt, pronunciamento ; "proclamation , announcement or declaration") is a form of military rebellion or ''coup d'état'' particularly associated with Spain, Portugal and Latin America, especially in the 19th century. Typol ...

' in O'Brien's drawing room. Since the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

Spain had been out of favour in British circles and its obscurity as a holiday destination at the time was indicated by O'Brien's question "

Costa Brava The Costa Brava (, ; "Wild Coast" or "Rough Coast") is a coastal region of Catalonia in northeastern Spain. Whilst sources differ on the exact definition of the Costa Brava, it can be regarded as stretching from the town of Blanes, northeast o ...

, where is that?" in response to Fraga's plea for help. Years later with the number of British tourists visiting Spain reaching 2 million, O'Brien was awarded the

Order of Isabella the Catholic The Order of Isabella the Catholic ( es, Orden de Isabel la Católica) is a Spanish civil order and honor granted to persons and institutions in recognition of extraordinary services to the homeland or the promotion of international relations a ...

General Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War and thereafter ruled over Spain from 193 ...

. Between 1953-55, O'Brien was called in to apply his skills in the campaign to establish commercial television in Britain. Later he was well known in political circles for his "No Strings" parties when senior politicians from both parties attended his annual gathering with no strings attached.Donough O'Brien. ''Fringe Benefits'', ibid.

Death

Toby O'Brien died at the age of 69 from undisclosed causes.

Family

O'Brien married Sylvia Denny on 12 February 1936. They had a son, Donough O'Brien, and two daughters. Sylvia O'Brien died in 1950. He then married Leonora Thayne Railton on 26 February 1952. They had two sons. Leonora O'Brien died in 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Toby 1909 births 1979 deaths People educated at St Cyprian's School People educated at Stowe School Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford Presidents of the Oxford Union British public relations people British male journalists Place of death missing