David Astor
Published on 3. March 2016
432 pages
978-1-4090-2947-2 (ISBN)
Description
Few newspaper editors are remembered beyond their lifetimes, but David Astor of the Observer is a great exception to the rule. He converted a staid, Conservative-supporting Sunday paper into essential reading, admired and envied for the quality of its writers and for its trenchant but fair-minded views.
Astor grew up at Cliveden, the country house on the Thames which his grandfather had bought when he turned his back on New York, the source of the family fortune. His liberal-minded father was a constant support, but his relations with his mother, Nancy, were always embattled. At Oxford he suffered the first of the bouts of depression that were to blight his life; a lost soul for much of the Thirties, he became involved in attempts to put the British Government in touch with the German opposition in the months leading up to the war.
George Orwell had urged Astor to champion the decolonisation of Africa, and Nelson Mandela always acknowledged how much he owed to the Observer's long-standing support. A generous benefactor to good causes, he helped to set up Amnesty International and Index on Censorship. A good man and a great editor, he deserves to be better remembered.
Astor grew up at Cliveden, the country house on the Thames which his grandfather had bought when he turned his back on New York, the source of the family fortune. His liberal-minded father was a constant support, but his relations with his mother, Nancy, were always embattled. At Oxford he suffered the first of the bouts of depression that were to blight his life; a lost soul for much of the Thirties, he became involved in attempts to put the British Government in touch with the German opposition in the months leading up to the war.
George Orwell had urged Astor to champion the decolonisation of Africa, and Nelson Mandela always acknowledged how much he owed to the Observer's long-standing support. A generous benefactor to good causes, he helped to set up Amnesty International and Index on Censorship. A good man and a great editor, he deserves to be better remembered.
Reviews / Votes
Jeremy Lewis has written a definitive account of Astor and his world. -- Robert McCrum * Observer * Lewis's affectionate and endearing biography is also a nostalgic celebration of the liberal intelligentsia and metropolitan elite...from the 1940s to the 1970s. There are many rewards in this book, which is full of old Fleet Street gossip, big names and good jokes. -- Richard Davenport-Hines * The Times * Jeremy Lewis's excellent new bio-graphy brings out both sides of this complex figure, tracing the contradictions of his character to his privileged but painfully conflicted upbringing... He gives a marvellous description of the golden age of the Observer. -- John Campbell * Financial Times * A fascinating, well-written and brilliantly researched account.... The book is a great achievement. -- Piers Brendon Excellent new biography. -- Richard Astor * Observer * Admiring yet fair biography... Gripping. -- Nicholas Shakespeare * Daily Telegraph * A lively, gossipy and affectionate biography. * The Economist * Astor at last gets the posthumous recognition he deserves. * Oldie * Jeremy Lewis brilliantly analyses the extraordinary family background and Astor's won personality and manner. -- Peter Wilby * New Statesman * He [Lewis] masters several complex strands of material, writing confidently and entertainingly, while leaving Astor's halo justifiably intact. -- Andrew Lycett * Spectator *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
File size
9,70 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-4090-2947-2 (9781409029472)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
A former publisher and the deputy editor of the Oldie, Jeremy Lewis has written three volumes of autobiography and biographies of Cyril Connolly, Tobias Smollett and Allen Lane, the founder of Penguin Books. Shades of Greene: One Generation of an English Family, was published by Cape in 2010.
