Robert Maxwell

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For other people named Robert Maxwell, see Robert Maxwell (disambiguation).
Robert Maxwell
Robert Maxwell 1989.jpg
Robert Maxwell (1989)
Member of Parliament
for Buckingham
In office
15 October 1964 – 18 June 1970
Preceded by Frank Markham
Succeeded by William Benyon
Personal details
Born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch
(1923-06-10)10 June 1923
Slatinské Doly, Czechoslovakia
Died 5 November 1991(1991-11-05) (aged 68)
Sea around Canary Islands
Resting place Mount of Olives Jewish Cemetery, Jerusalem
Nationality British
Political party Labour
Spouse(s) Elisabeth Meynard Maxwell (m. 1946–1991)
Children Michael (1946-1967)
Philip (b. 1948)
Ann (b. 1949)
Christine, (b. 1951)
Isabel (b. 1951)
Karine (1954-1957)
Ian (b. 1956)
Kevin (b. 1959)
Ghislaine (b.25 December 1961)[1]
Occupation Publisher, media proprietor
Religion Judaism
Awards Military Cross ribbon.png Military Cross
Military service
Allegiance  United Kingdom
Rank Captain

Ian Robert Maxwell, MC (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovakian-born British media proprietor and Member of Parliament (MP). He rose from poverty to build an extensive publishing empire. After Maxwell's death, huge discrepancies in his companies' finances were revealed, including his fraudulent misappropriation of the Mirror Group pension fund.

Early in his life, he escaped from Nazi occupation, joining the Czechoslovak Army in exile in the Second World War and was decorated after active service in the British Army. In subsequent years he worked in publishing, building up Pergamon Press to a major publishing house. After six years as an MP during the 1960s, he again put all his energy into business, successively buying the British Printing Corporation, Mirror Group Newspapers and Macmillan, Inc, among other publishing companies.

Maxwell had a flamboyant lifestyle, living in Headington Hill Hall in Oxford from which he often flew in his helicopter, and sailing in his luxury yacht, the Lady Ghislaine. He was notably litigious and often embroiled in controversy, including about his support for Israel at the time of its 1948 Palestine war. In 1989, he had to sell successful businesses, including Pergamon Press, to cover some of his debts. In 1991, his body was discovered floating in the Atlantic Ocean having fallen overboard from his yacht. He was buried in Jerusalem.

Maxwell's death triggered the collapse of his publishing empire as banks called in loans. His sons briefly struggled to keep the business together, but failed as the news emerged that Maxwell had stolen hundreds of millions of pounds from his own companies' pension funds. The Maxwell companies applied for bankruptcy protection in 1992.

Early life

Maxwell was born into a poor[2][3] Yiddish-speaking Orthodox Jewish family in the small town of Slatinské Doly[4] (now Solotvyno, Ukraine), in the easternmost province of (pre-Second World War) Czechoslovakia. His parents were Mechel Hoch and Hannah Slomowitz. He had six siblings. In 1939, the area was reclaimed by Hungary. Most members of his family died in Auschwitz after Hungary was occupied in 1944 by its former ally, Nazi Germany, but he had already escaped to France.[2] In Marseille he joined the Czechoslovak Army in exile in May 1940.[5]

After the defeat in France and the retreat to Great Britain, Maxwell (using the name "Ivan du Maurier" [6]) took part in the protest against the leadership of the Czechoslovak Army, and with 500 other soldiers, he was transferred to the British Pioneer Corps, and later to the North Staffordshire Regiment in 1943. He was then involved in action across Europe, from the Normandy beaches to Berlin, and achieved the rank of sergeant.[2] He gained a commission in 1945, and was promoted captain. In January 1945, he received the Military Cross from Field Marshal Montgomery. Attached to the British Foreign Office, he served in Berlin during the next two years in the press section.[4]

In 1945, he married Elisabeth "Betty" Meynard; a French Protestant, with whom he had nine children, with the goal of "recreating the family he lost in the Holocaust".[7] Five of his children were later employed within his companies. His three-year-old daughter Karine died of leukemia and his eldest son, Michael, was severely injured in a car accident in 1961 (at the age of 15) while being driven home from a post-Christmas party. His driver fell asleep at the wheel, and Michael never regained consciousness. He died seven years later.[8][9][10][11]

After the war he used various contacts in the Allied occupation authorities to go into business, becoming the British and United States distributor for Springer Verlag, a publisher of scientific books. In 1951 he bought three quarters[12] of Butterworth-Springer, a minor publisher; the remaining quarter was held by the experienced scientific editor Paul Rosbaud. They changed the name of the company to Pergamon Press and rapidly built it into a major publishing house.

In 1964, representing the Labour Party, he was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Buckingham, and re-elected in 1966. He gave an interview to The Times in 1968, in which he said the House of Commons provided him with a problem. "I can't get on with men", he commented. "I tried having male assistants at first. But it didn't work. They tend to be too independent. Men like to have individuality. Women can become an extension of the boss."[13] Maxwell lost his seat in 1970 to the Conservative William Benyon.

At the beginning of 1969, it emerged that Maxwell's attempt to buy the News of the World had failed.[14] The Carr family, which owned the title, had been incensed at the thought of a Czech immigrant with socialist politics gaining ownership. The board voted against his bid without any dissent. The News of the World's editor Stafford Somerfield opposed Maxwell's bid[15] in an October 1968 front page leader article, in which he referred to Maxwell's Czech origins and used his birth name. "This is a British paper, run by British people," he wrote, "as British as roast beef and Yorkshire pudding ... Let us keep it that way."[16] The tycoon who gained control was the Australian Rupert Murdoch, who later the same year acquired The Sun, which had also previously interested Maxwell.[17]

Pergamon lost and regained

In 1969 Saul Steinberg, head of "Leasco Data Processing Corporation", was interested in a strategic acquisition of Pergamon. Steinberg claimed that during negotiations Maxwell had falsely stated that a subsidiary responsible for publishing encyclopedias was extremely profitable.[18][19] At the same time, Pergamon had been forced to reduce its profit forecasts for 1969 from £2​1⁄2 million to £2.05 million during the period of negotiations, and dealing in Pergamon shares was suspended on the London stock markets.[19]

This caused Maxwell to lose control of Pergamon, and he was expelled from the board in October 1969, along with three other directors in sympathy with him, by the majority owners of the company's shares.[20] Steinberg purchased Pergamon. An inquiry by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) under the Takeover Code of the time reported in mid-1971:[4] "We regret having to conclude that, notwithstanding Mr Maxwell's acknowledged abilities and energy, he is not in our opinion a person who can be relied on to exercise proper stewardship of a publicly quoted company." It was found that Maxwell had contrived to maximise Pergamon's share price through transactions between his private family companies.[18]

At the same time, the U.S. Congress was investigating Leasco's takeover practices. Justice Forbes in September 1971 was critical of the inquiry: "They had moved from an inquisitorial role to accusatory one and virtually committed the business murder of Mr. Maxwell." He further continued that the trial judge would probably find that the "inspectors had acted contrary to the rules of national justice." [21] The company performed poorly under Steinberg; Maxwell reacquired Pergamon in 1974 after borrowing funds.[22]

Maxwell established the Maxwell Foundation in Liechtenstein in 1970. He acquired the British Printing Corporation (BPC) in 1981, and changed its name to the British Printing and Communication Corporation (BPCC) and then to the Maxwell Communications Corporation. The company was later sold in a management buy-out, and is now known as Polestar.

Later business activities

In July 1984, Maxwell acquired Mirror Group Newspapers from Reed International plc.[23] for £113 million.[24] MGN, now part of Trinity Mirror, published the Daily Mirror, a pro-Labour Party tabloid, and other popular newspapers in England and Scotland. At a press conference to publicise his acquisition, Maxwell said his editors would be "free to produce the news without interference".[23] Meanwhile, at a meeting of Maxwell's new employees, Mirror journalist Joe Haines asserted that he was able to prove that their boss "is a crook and a liar".[25][26] Haines quickly came under Maxwell's influence and later wrote his authorised biography.[25]

In June 1985, Maxwell announced a takeover of Sir Clive Sinclair's ailing home computer company, Sinclair Research, through Hollis Brothers, a Pergamon Press subsidiary.[27] The deal was aborted in August 1985.[28] In 1987 Maxwell purchased part of IPC Media to create Fleetway Publications. That same year he launched the London Daily News in February, after a delay caused by production problems, but the paper closed in July after sustaining significant losses contemporary estimates put at £25 million.[29] At first intended to be a rival to the Evening Standard, Maxwell had made a rash decision for it to be the first 24-hour paper as well.[30]

By 1988, Maxwell's various companies owned, in addition to the Mirror titles and Pergamon Press, Nimbus Records, Macmillan, Inc (of which Collier books was a part), Maxwell Directories, Prentice Hall Information Services, and the Berlitz language schools. He also owned a half-share of MTV in Europe and other European television interests, Maxwell Cable TV and Maxwell Entertainment.[22] Maxwell had purchased Macmillan, Inc, the American publishing firm, during 1988 for $2.6 billion. In the same year he launched an ambitious new project, a transnational newspaper called The European. In 1991, he was forced to sell Pergamon Press and Maxwell Directories to Elsevier for £440 million to cover his debts;[22] he used some of this money to buy an ailing tabloid, the New York Daily News. Also in 1991, Maxwell sold 49% of the stock of Mirror Group Newspapers to the public.[4]

Maxwell's links with Eastern European totalitarian regimes resulted in several biographies (generally considered to be hagiographies[31]) of those countries' then leaders, with interviews conducted by Maxwell, for which he received much derision.[4] At the beginning of an interview with Romania's Nicolae Ceaușescu, then the country's Communist leader, he asked: "How do you account for your enormous popularity with the Romanian people?"[32]

Headington Hill Hall was the home of Robert Maxwell for the last 32 years of his life, which he rented from Oxford City Council and described as "the best council house" in the country.[33] It is now part of Oxford Brookes University.

Maxwell was also the chairman of Oxford United, saving them from bankruptcy and attempting to merge them with Reading in 1983 to form a club he wished to call "Thames Valley Royals". He took Oxford into the top flight of English football in 1985, and the team won the League Cup a year later. Maxwell bought into Derby County in 1987. He also attempted to buy Manchester United in 1984, but refused owner Martin Edwards's asking price.

Maxwell was known to be litigious against those who would speak or write against him. The satirical magazine Private Eye lampooned him as "Cap'n Bob" and the "bouncing Czech",[34] the latter nickname having originally been devised by Prime Minister Harold Wilson[35] (under whom Maxwell was an MP). Maxwell took out several libel actions against Private Eye, one resulting in the magazine losing an estimated £225,000 and Maxwell using his commercial power to hit back with a one-off spoof magazine Not Private Eye.[36]

Death

On 5 November 1991, he was last in contact with the crew of the Lady Ghislaine, his yacht, at 4:25 a.m. local time, but was found to be missing later in the morning.[37] Maxwell was presumed to have fallen overboard from the vessel which was cruising off the Canary Islands,[37][38] and his naked body was subsequently recovered from the Atlantic Ocean.[39] The official ruling at a Madrid inquest held in December 1991 was death by a heart attack combined with accidental drowning,[40] although three pathologists had been unable to agree on the cause of his death at the inquest;[39] he had been found to have been suffering from serious heart and lung conditions.[41] Murder was ruled out by the judge and, in effect, so was suicide.[40] He was buried on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.[42]

Then Prime Minister, John Major, said Maxwell had given him "valuable insights" into the situation in the Soviet Union during the attempted coup. He was a "great character", Major added. Neil Kinnock, then Labour Party leader, spoke of him as a man with "a zest for life" who "attracted controversy, envy and loyalty in great measure throughout his rumbustious life."

Production crew researching for Maxwell, an eponymous biographical film by the BBC, uncovered tapes stored in a suitcase owned by Maxwell's former head of security John Pole. Later in his life, Maxwell had become increasingly paranoid of his own employees and had the offices of those he suspected of disloyalty wired so he could hear their conversations. After Maxwell's death, the tapes remained in Pole's suitcase and were only discovered by the researchers in 2007.[43]

Israeli connection

1948 war

A hint of Maxwell's service to the Israeli state was provided by John Loftus and Mark Aarons, who described Maxwell's contacts with Czech anti-Stalinist Communist leaders in 1948 as crucial to the Czech decision to arm Israel in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Czech military assistance was both unique and crucial for the fledgling state as it battled for its existence. It was Maxwell's covert help in smuggling aircraft parts into Israel that led to the country having air supremacy during their 1948 War of Independence.[44]

Mossad allegations; Vanunu case

Shortly before Maxwell's death, a former employee of Israel's Military Intelligence Directorate intelligence agency Ari Ben-Menashe, had approached a number of news organisations in Britain and the United States with the allegation that Maxwell and the Daily Mirror's foreign editor, Nicholas Davies, were both long-time agents for Mossad. Ben-Menashe also claimed that in 1986 Maxwell had told the Israeli Embassy in London that Mordechai Vanunu had given information about Israel's nuclear capability to the Sunday Times, then to the Daily Mirror. Vanunu was subsequently kidnapped by Mossad and smuggled to Israel, convicted of treason and imprisoned for 18 years.[39]

Ben-Menashe's story was ignored at first but eventually The New Yorker journalist Seymour Hersh repeated some of the allegations during a press conference in London held to publicise The Samson Option, Hersh's book about Israel's nuclear weapons. On 21 October 1991, two Members of Parliament, Labour's George Galloway and the Conservative's Rupert Allason (also known as espionage author Nigel West) agreed to raise the issue in the House of Commons (under Parliamentary Privilege protection)[45] which in turn allowed British newspapers to report events without fear of libel suits. Maxwell called the claims "ludicrous, a total invention", and sacked Nicholas Davies, known also as Nick Davies.[37] A year later, in Galloway's libel settlement against Mirror Group Newspapers (in which he received "substantial" damages), Galloway's counsel announced that the MP accepted that the Group's staff had not been involved in Vanunu's abduction.[46]

Aftermath; collapse of a publishing empire

Maxwell's death triggered a flood of instability with banks frantically calling in their massive loans. His two sons Kevin and Ian struggled to hold the empire together, but were unable to prevent its collapse.[citation needed] It emerged that, without adequate prior authorisation, Maxwell had used hundreds of millions of pounds from his companies' pension funds to shore up the shares of the Mirror Group, to save his companies from bankruptcy. Eventually, the pension funds were replenished with monies from investment banks Shearson Lehman and Goldman Sachs, as well as the British government.

This replenishment was limited and also supported by a surplus in the printers' fund which was taken by the government in part payment of £100m required to support the workers' State Pensions. The rest of the £100m was waived. Maxwell's theft of pension funds was, therefore, partly repaid from public funds. The result was that, in general, pensioners received about 50% of their company pension entitlement.[citation needed]

The Maxwell companies filed for bankruptcy protection in 1992. Kevin Maxwell was declared bankrupt with debts of £400 million. In 1995, Kevin and Ian Maxwell, and two other former directors, went on trial for conspiracy to defraud, but were unanimously acquitted by a twelve-man jury in 1996.[citation needed]

In November 1994, Robert Maxwell's wife Elisabeth published her memoirs, A Mind of My Own: My Life with Robert Maxwell,[47] which sheds light on her life with Maxwell when the publishing magnate was ranked as one of the richest people in the world.[48] She had devoted much of her life to researching the Holocaust and to Judeo-Christian dialogue. She died on 7 August 2013.[49]

Depictions in drama

A BBC drama, Maxwell, covering his life shortly before his death starring David Suchet and Patricia Hodge, was aired on 4 May 2007.[50] Suchet won the International Emmy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Maxwell.[51] A one-person show about Maxwell's life, Lies Have Been Told, written by Rod Beacham, was performed by Phillip York at London's Trafalgar Studios in 2006.[52]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Марк Штейнберг. Евреи в войнах тысячелетий. p. 227. ISBN 5-93273-154-0 (Russian)
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Craig R. Whitney "Robert Maxwell, 68: From Refugee to the Ruthless Builder of a Publishing Empire", New York Times, 6 November 1991, [p.5]
  5. ↑ Ludvík Hoch (Maxwell) in the database of Central Military Archive in Prague
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Maxwell: The final verdict
  9. ↑ "A mind of my own" by Elisabeth Maxwell
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Haines (1988) 135
  13. ↑ Cited by Sandra Barwick "The beast and his beauties", The Independent, 25 October 1994
  14. ↑ "1969: Murdoch wins Fleet Street foothold", BBC On this Day 2 January
  15. ↑ Roy Greenslade Press Gang: How Newspapers Make Profits From Propaganda, London: Pan, 2004 [2003], p.395
  16. ↑ Bill Grundy "The Press: Mr Maxwell and the Ailing Giant", The Spectator, 24 October 1968, p.6
  17. ↑ "The Maxwell Murdoch tabloid rivalry", BBC News, 5 November 2011
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Dennis Barker and Christopher Sylvester "The grasshopper", – Obituary of Maxwell, The Guardian, 6 November 1991. Retrieved on 19 July 2007.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Nicholas Davenport "Money Wanted: A Board of Trade inquiry", The Spectator, 29 August 1969, p.24
  20. ↑ Nicholas Davenport "Money: The End of the Affair", The Spectator, 17 October 1969, p.22
  21. ↑ Betty Maxwell, p. 542
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 "Robert Maxwell: Overview", keputa.net
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 "Briton Buys the Mirror Chain", New York Times, 14 July 1984
  24. ↑ Roy Greenslade Press Gang: How Newspapers Make Profits From Propaganda, London: Pan, 2004 [2003], p.395
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 "Say It Ain't So, Joe", The Spectator, 22 February 1992, p.15
  26. ↑ Roy Greenslade Press Gang, p.395
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ "Maxwell Closes London Paper", Glasgow Herald, 25 July 1987, p.3
  30. ↑ Duncan Campbell "The London legacy of Cap'n Bob", The Guardian, 28 August 2006
  31. ↑ David Ellis and Sidney Urquhart "Maxwell's Hall of Shame", Time, 8 April 1991
  32. ↑ Editorial: "Breaking the Spell", The Spectator, 21 December 1991, p.3
  33. ↑ "", Headington History
  34. ↑ Jon Kelly "The strange allure of Robert Maxwell", BBC News, 4 May 2007
  35. ↑ Reuters "Murdoch conclusion stirs memories of his old foe Maxwell", Chicago Tribune, 1 May 2012
  36. ↑ "Not Private Eye", Tony Quinn, Magforum.com, 6 March 2007
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 37.2 Ben Laurance and John Hooper, et al "Maxwell's body found in sea", The Guardian, 6 November 1991
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 39.2 Robert Verkaik "The Mystery of Maxwell's Death", The Independent, 10 March 2006
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 Larry Eichel "Maxwell's Legacy Of Money Troubles Maxwell's Own Daily Mirror Newspaper Now Routinely Calls Him 'The Cheating Tycoon'", Philadelphia Inquirer, 14 December 1991
  41. ↑ Marlise Simons "Autopsy Indicates Maxwell Did Not Drown", New York Times, 12 December 1991
  42. ↑ Clyde Haberman "The Media Business; Maxwell Is Buried In Jerusalem", New York Times, 11 November 1991
  43. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  44. ↑ John Loftus and Mark Aarons, The Secret War Against the Jews.
  45. ↑ which allows MPs to ask questions in Parliament without risk of being sued for defamation
  46. ↑ "Scottish MP wins libel damages", The Herald (Glasgow), 22 December 1992
  47. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  48. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  49. ↑ Roy Greenslade, "Betty, Robert Maxwell's widow, dies aged 92" in The Guardian (9 August 2013)
  50. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  51. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  52. ↑ Benedict Nightingale. "Portrait of a megalomaniac." The Times, London, 13 January 2006: pg 39.

Further reading

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Buckingham
1964–1970		 Succeeded by
William Benyon

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