George Robert Urban (born Gyorgy Robert Ungar; 12 April 1921, in

Miskolc Miskolc ( , , ; Czech language, Czech and sk, Miškovec; german: Mischkolz; yi, script=Latn, Mishkoltz; ro, Mișcolț) is a city in northeastern Hungary, known for its heavy industry. With a population of 161,265 (1 Jan 2014) Miskolc is the ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

– 3 October 1997) was a Hungarian writer, best known as a broadcaster for

Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...

(RFE).

Early life

Gyorgy Robert Ungar was born on 12 April 1921 in

, Hungary. He attended

Budapest University Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

and left Hungary for the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

in 1948, where he took up further studies at London University. On 1 April 1955 he was naturalised as a British subject under the name George Robert Urban.

Career

Urban began work for the BBC Hungarian service. He was a radio broadcaster for a number of years for the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the British Government through the Foreign Secretary's office. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception a ...

, leaving and joining RFE in 1960, and becoming its director for a period in the 1980s. Urban is known also for his writing for '' Encounter'' magazine. His journalism and book writing drew heavily on long dialogues, in effect extended

interview An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" ...

s, from his work at RFE, involving major

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator o ...

and political figures who were prepared to engage with the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

. He also published a study of the Georgekreis, an early enthusiasm, and continuing shaper of his attitudes. In 1985, he signed a petition in support for the far-right paramilitary

Contras The Contras were the various U.S.-backed and funded right-wing rebel groups that were active from 1979 to 1990 in opposition to the Marxist Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction Government in Nicaragua, which came to power in 1979 foll ...

(

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the coun ...

Personal life

Urban was twice married.https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=43226477&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjI2MDg3MDEyNywiaWF0IjoxNjE1MTk4NjI3LCJleHAiOjE2MTUyODUwMjd9.EmTSPIY-Dryv3O21Jpj5W6Lv-WLMFZEDAMr8LZcWAto The Guardian, 20 Oct 1997

Works

*Kinesis and stasis; a study in the attitude of Stefan George and his circle to the musical arts (1962) *The Sino-Soviet Conflict (1965) with Leo Labedz *Toynbee on Toynbee: A Conversation between

Arnold J. Toynbee Arnold Joseph Toynbee (; 14 April 1889 – 22 October 1975) was an English historian, a philosopher of history, an author of numerous books and a research professor of international history at the London School of Economics and King's Colleg ...

and G. R. Urban (1974) *Détente (1976) *What is Eurocommunism? (1977) editor *Eurocommunism: Its Roots and Future in Italy and Elsewhere (1978) *Communist Reformation: Nationalism, Internationalism, and Change in the World Communist Movement (1979) *Can the Soviet System Survive Reform?: Seven Colloquies About the State of Soviet Socialism Seventy Years After the Bolshevik Revolution (1989) *End of Empire: The Demise of the Soviet Union (1992) *Diplomacy and Disillusion at the Court of Margaret Thatcher: An Insider's View (1996) *Radio Free Europe and the Pursuit of Democracy: My War Within the Cold War (1997)

References

External links

The Papers of George Urban
held at

Churchill Archives Centre The Churchill Archives Centre (CAC) at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge is one of the largest repositories in the United Kingdom for the preservation and study of modern personal papers. It is best known for housing the papers of ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Urban, George 1921 births 1997 deaths People from Miskolc Hungarian writers Hungarian emigrants to the United Kingdom Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty people Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom