Bill Deedes
Life peerage | |
---|---|
Member of Parliament for Ashford | |
In office 23 February 1950 – 20 September 1974 | |
Preceded by | Edward Percy Smith |
Succeeded by | Keith Speed |
Personal details | |
Born | William Francis Deedes 1 June 1913 Hampstead, London, England |
Died | 17 August 2007 Aldington, Kent, England | (aged 94)
Political party | Conservative |
Spouse |
Evelyn Branfort (died 2004) |
Children | 5 |
Relatives |
|
Education | Harrow School |
Military career | |
Service/ | British Army |
Years of service | World War II |
Rank | Major |
Service number | 90126 |
Awards | Military Cross |
William Francis Deedes, Baron Deedes,
Early life
Deedes was born in Hampstead in 1913, the second child and only son of landowner Herbert William Deedes and his wife Melesina Gladys, daughter of Philip Francis Chenevix Trench.[1] His younger sister Margaret Melesina married the 21st Baron FitzWalter.[2] He was brought up in the family home of Saltwood Castle until it was sold in 1925. He was educated at Harrow until after his father, who had struggled to manage the family's wealth for years, suffered heavy financial losses from the Wall Street Crash of 1929 which eradicated their remaining fortunes.[3]
Journalism
Due to the lack of funds, Deedes was forced to leave school a year early and finish his exams with a tutor.
War Service
Deedes fought with the
Politics
Deedes came from a family with a tradition of public service. He was very proud of the fact that there had been a Deedes member of parliament in every century since 1600.[6]
Deedes was elected as the
Editorship and Fleet Street
Deedes was editor of The Daily Telegraph from 1974 to 1986 and, after he was replaced by Max Hastings, continued his career as a journalist. His tenure was noted for battles with the print unions.[1]
After the 1999 Australian republic referendum, Deedes wrote in The Daily Telegraph: "I have rarely attended elections in any country, certainly not a democratic one, in which the newspapers have displayed more shameless bias. One and all, they determined that Australians should have a republic and they used every device towards that end."[7]
He continued to comment on social and political issues through his newspaper columns until his death. In his later years, he gained a cult fanbase after two memorable appearances on
He was also a stalwart member of the
Personal life
Deedes was married to Evelyn Hilary Branfoot, who died in May 2004, by whom he had two sons (one of whom died young) and three daughters, Juliet, Jill and Lucy.[6] A convinced Christian like his father, he lived very unpretentiously on the edge of Romney Marsh, Kent, where his wife, Hilary, kept a menagerie of farm animals. He was never particularly well-off, preferring to use public transport whenever possible.[6]
He was created a
His son, Jeremy Deedes, is a director of the
Lucy Deedes is a former
Death
Deedes died from bronchopneumonia at his home in Aldington on 17 August 2007, at the age of 94.[1][13][14] There is a residential street named for him in the village, called Bill Deedes Way.
Popular culture
Scoop
According to many sources, Deedes was the journalist used by
Barring the question of age, a more appropriate model for Boot is William Beach Thomas who, according to Peter Stothard, "was a quietly successful countryside columnist and literary gent who became a calamitous Daily Mail war correspondent" in World War I.[18]
"Dear Bill"
Deedes was close to Margaret Thatcher and her husband Denis. The spoof letters "from" Mr. Thatcher which appeared in satirical magazine Private Eye throughout the Thatcher years were always addressed to Dear Bill – the "Bill" in question was usually assumed to be Deedes; however some instalments (e.g. 16 May and 28 November 1986) would suggest otherwise. The two men regularly played golf together, with Deedes saying it was a public service to take the spouse of the Prime Minister away from the stress of being married to the country's head of government. The Eye also based its long-running editorial comment, "Shome mishtake shurely?", on Deedes' distinctive slur.[19]
Publications
- Swift and Bold: The Story of the King's Royal Rifle Corps in the Second World War 1939-1945, coedited with Sir Hereward Wake, Aldershot: Gale & Polden, 1949
- At War with Waugh: The Real Story of "Scoop", Macmillan, 2003 ISBN 1-4050-0573-4
- Brief Lives, Macmillan, 2004 ISBN 0-330-42639-7
- Dear Bill: A Memoir, Macmillan, 2005 ISBN 1-4050-5266-X
- Words and Deedes: Selected Journalism 1931-2006, Macmillan, 2006, ISBN 1-4050-5396-8
Arms
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Notes
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/99004. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ ISBN 0-9711966-2-1.
- ^ a b "Lord Deedes". The Daily Telegraph. 18 August 2007. p. 27.
- ^ a b "Desert Island Discs - Lord Deedes - BBC Sounds". Desert Island Discs. BBC Radio. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
- ISBN 9780330541121.
- ^ a b c d Ingrams, Richard (20 August 2007). "Obituary: Lord Deedes". The Guardian. London.
- ^ Deedes, Bill; The Daily Telegraph; 8 November 1999
- ^ Muslims can never conform to our ways - Daily Telegraph. 20 October 2006
- ^ Darfur is as bad as Nazi Germany - and I know - The Daily Telegraph. 3 August 2007
- ^ "No. 50667". The London Gazette. 26 September 1983. p. 12499.
- ^ "This Is Your Life: S39.E15 Bill Deedes". www.imdb.com. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
- ^ http://www.pelhambellpottinger.co.uk/profiles/profile?profile_id=3&role_id=2[permanent dead link]
- ^ Fox, Margalit (4 September 2007). "Bill Deedes, Journalist in Britain, Is Dead at 94". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
- ^ "Journalist Lord Deedes dies at 94" (webpage). BBC News Online. 17 August 2007. Retrieved 17 August 2007.
- ^ W. F. Deedes, At War With Waugh (London: Macmillan, 2003), pp. 102–103
- ^ W. F. Deedes, At War With Waugh (London: Macmillan, 2003), p. 3
- ^ Letter to The Daily Telegraph on 27 August 2007(Issue no 47,347)
- ^ The Times Hay, we got it wrong Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine 29 May 2007
- ^ "The unassuming W F Deedes". The Guardian. 19 August 2007.