Geoffrey Wheatcroft

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Geoffrey Albert Wheatcroft (born 23 December 1945, in London) is a British journalist, author and historian.[1]

Early life and education[]

Son of Stephen Frederick Wheatcroft (1921-2016), OBE, and his first wife, Joyce (née Reed), Wheatcroft was raised at Hampstead. His father was an economist, serving as a governor of the London School of Economics, and an expert on civil aviation, serving as Commercial Planning manager for British Airways from 1946 to 1953 before working for various airlines as an independent consultant.[2][3][4]

Wheatcroft was educated at University College School, London, then New College, Oxford, where he read Modern History.[5]

Publishing and journalism[]

He started work in publishing in 1968, working for Hamish Hamilton (1968–70), Michael Joseph (1971–73), and Cassell & Co (1974–75).

In 1975 he became the assistant editor of The Spectator, moving to the post of literary editor, which he occupied from 1977 to 1981. During the period 1981–84, he worked as a reporter in South Africa before becoming editor of the Londoner's Diary gossip column in the London Evening Standard, 1985–86. He was a Sunday Telegraph columnist 1987–91, freelance 1993–96; feature writer on the Daily Express, 1996–97; and has since written for The Guardian, The Times Literary Supplement, The New York Review of Books, The New Republic, the Boston Globe, The Atlantic, The American Conservative, and other publications on both sides of the Atlantic.

His book The Controversy of Zion won a 1996 National Jewish Book Award.[6][7] His 2021 biography of Winston Churchill was described by conservative historian Andrew Roberts in The Spectator as a "character assassination".[8]

Marriage and family[]

In 1990, Wheatcroft married Sally Muir, the daughter of Frank Muir. They live in Bath with their two children, Abigail and Gabriel.[9]

Books[]

  • The Randlords (1985)
  • Absent Friends (1989)
  • The Controversy of Zion (1996)
  • The Strange Death of Tory England (2005)
  • Le Tour: A History of the Tour de France (2003, 2007, 2013)
  • Yo, Blair! (2007)
  • The Life and Afterlife of Winston Churchill (2021)

References[]

  1. ^ "Geoffrey Wheatcroft". Simon & Schuster. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  2. ^ World Authors, 1995-2000, ed. Mari Rich, et al, H. W. Wilson, 2003, p. 839
  3. ^ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2016/05/09/stephen-wheatcroft-aviation-expert--obituary
  4. ^ https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/stephen-wheatcroft-qdd69s2j3
  5. ^ One Hundred Letters from Hugh Trevor-Roper, ed. Adam Sisman, Oxford University Press, 2014, p. 390
  6. ^ Geoffrey Wheatcroft, Most favored nation, The Boston Globe, 2 April 2006.
  7. ^ "Past Winners". Jewish Book Council. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  8. ^ Roberts, Andrew (14 August 2021). "Churchill as villain - but is this a character assassination too far?". The Spectator. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  9. ^ A Kentish Lad, Frank Muir, Corgi Books, 1998, p. 398

Sources[]

  • Who's Who (2008 edition) s.v. Geoffrey Wheatcroft

External links[]

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