Tom Bower
BornThomas Michael Bower
(1946-09-28) 28 September 1946
England
LanguageEnglish
GenreJournalism, biography
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1985)​
Children4

Thomas Michael Bower (born 28 September 1946)[1] is a British writer and former BBC journalist and television producer. He is known for his investigative journalism and for his unauthorised biographies, often of business tycoons and newspaper proprietors.

His books include unauthorised biographies of Robert Maxwell, Mohamed Al-Fayed, Conrad Black, Richard Branson, Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson. A book about Richard Desmond remains unpublished. His book, Broken Dreams: Vanity, Greed and the Souring of British Football, won the 2003 William Hill Sports Book of the Year.

Early life

Bower was born in London in 1946. His parents were Jewish refugees who fled Prague after the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 and arrived in London later that same year.[2] They married in London in early 1943.[3] From 1948, Tom's father Jiri Gerhard Bauer renounced the use of the surname Bauer for the family, and called himself George Gerald Bower, a change he confirmed by deed poll on 15 May 1957.[4]

After attending the William Ellis School in Highgate, Bower studied law at the London School of Economics, before working as a barrister for the National Council of Civil Liberties.[2] Bower says that during this period he was a Marxist, being nicknamed "Tommy the Red".[5]

BBC career

In 1970, Bower joined the BBC as a researcher on the programme 24 Hours before becoming a reporter on Panorama.[6] He was a producer on Panorama from 1975 until 1987.[7] He left the BBC in 1995.[2]

Books and journalism

Bower's first book was Blind Eye to Murder (1980), the first exposé based on eyewitnesses and newly released archives in London and Washington of the Allied failure after 1945 to hunt down Nazi war criminals and de-Nazify West Germany. The book was serialised in The Times and was the basis of a BBC TV documentary.

Bower's second book was Klaus Barbie: The Butcher of Lyon (1984) which documented Klaus Barbie's war crimes during World War II as head of the Gestapo in Lyon, France and his postwar work for the American intelligence agency Counterintelligence Corps (CIC) and South American narcotics and arms dealers. Bower's book was serialised in The Times in September 1983.[8] Neal Ascherson positively reviewed the book in The Observer in January 1984.[9]

Robert Maxwell

In 1987, Robert Maxwell responded to the publication of two unauthorised biographies of himself with numerous lawsuits, threats of legal action against individual booksellers, and the rapid publication of an authorised biography by Joe Haines, political editor of the Mirror Group which Maxwell owned. Of the two unauthorised books, Maxwell: A Portrait of Power by Peter Thompson and Anthony Delano was withdrawn from sale and all unsold copies pulped after Maxwell successfully sued the publishers and authors for libel.[10] The second book, Maxwell: The Outsider by Bower sold out in hardback but Maxwell prevented the paperback edition appearing, in part by buying the publishing company which held the paperback rights. Maxwell also filed a libel action against Bower and the hardback publishers, Aurum Press. Maxwell allowed this action to lapse in 1990 but only after Bower and Aurum had submitted a detailed defence of the book.[11]

Maxwell also tried to sue Bower in the English courts over an article published in America, by the magazine The New Republic, on the basis that it had 136 British subscribers.[12] Bower also believes that Maxwell tried to break into his house and also went through his phone records and bank statements.[13]

Tiny Rowland

In 1993 Bower published a biography of Lonrho tycoon Tiny Rowland, entitled Tiny Rowland. A Rebel Tycoon (London, Heinemann, 1993).

Swiss Banks

In 1997, Tom Bower published Blood Money: The Swiss, the Nazis and the Looted Billions detailing his thesis of how the Swiss Government and the Swiss Banks colluded to prevent the return of Jewish-owned World War II-era bank accounts to their rightful owners until the World Jewish Congress filed suit in 1995.

In his testimony to the United States Senate Banking Committee in May 1997, Bower accused the Swiss government of “delay, deception and dishonesty” in the retrieval of Jewish-owned funds and stated that he had “grave doubts” whether the Bergier commission which was being set up, to investigate Switzerland’s WWII conduct, would “provide an acceptable account”.[14] Regarding his testimony and book, Bower was criticized by some commentators for predominantly relying on, and rehashing, information from the Swiss Federal Archives that had already been made public by Swiss historians and others. One such example regarded a ‘secret’ Swiss treaty with Poland which The New York Times had covered in 1949 and which the historian Peter Hug (together with Marc Perrenoud) had produced a report on, in 1996, for the Swiss government.[15] Jacques Picard, a Swiss historian, had published work in 1993 covering the 1957 information request to the Swiss government by Harald Huber, a member of parliament, regarding the suspected existence of dormant accounts in Switzerland.[16] In his testimony, Bower presented the findings regarding Huber as if they were novel, adding that “Among the Swiss lines of defense is that there is nothing new in [Bower’s] allegations. Were that to be true - that would be shocking. It would mean that Swiss historians have known for many years about the deception but have refused to publicize deprecatory information”.[14]

Richard Branson

In 2000, Richard Branson sued Bower for libel over an article he had written for the London Evening Standard in 1999.[17] Branson chose not to sue the paper, but its editor, Max Hastings, agreed the newspaper would fund Bower's defence.[18] Branson lost the case,[19] and later expressed regret at bringing the action.[18] Bower continues to write articles critical of Branson's business affairs,[20] and published biographies of him in 2000 and 2014.[21]

Geoffrey Robinson MP

In 2001, Bower published The Paymaster: Geoffrey Robinson, Maxwell and New Labour, a biography of the Labour MP Geoffrey Robinson. The book's evidence that Robinson had solicited a £200,000 business contract from Robert Maxwell led to Robinson being suspended from Parliament for three weeks as he had not disclosed the matter to an inquiry some years previously.[22] Robinson denied receiving the money in question from Maxwell and denied that he had sought to mislead Parliament.[6]

English football

In 2003, Bower won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award for Broken Dreams: Vanity, Greed and the Souring of British Football, an investigation into corruption in English football.

Conrad Black

Bower's joint biography of Conrad Black and Barbara Amiel Conrad and Lady Black: Dancing on the Edge was published in November 2006. In February 2007, Black filed a libel suit in Toronto against Bower over the contents of the book.[23] The suit was frozen when Black was convicted of fraud and imprisoned.[24]

Richard Desmond

The Daily Express proprietor Richard Desmond brought a libel action against Bower over a passing reference in Dancing on the Edge. Desmond claimed that the book included an account of an incident that weakened his "super-tough" reputation as a businessman and was therefore defamatory. Bower denied libel on the grounds of the story being "substantially true".[25] The action was heard in July 2009 and Desmond lost the case.[26][27] An unauthorised biography by Bower of Richard Desmond, titled Rough Trader, was written and printed in 2006, but still awaits publication.[1]

Latest works

In 2011 Bower published a biography of the Formula One executive Bernie Ecclestone titled No Angel: The Secret Life of Bernie Ecclestone. Ecclestone cooperated with Bower in the writing of the book, facilitating introductions to people for Bower.[28] Over lunch Ecclestone told Bower "You write what you like, provided it's more or less the truth, because I'm no angel". Ecclestone's quote provided the title for the book.[28] Ecclestone became friends with Bower and would say to him "What can I do that's evil for you?"[28]

Bower's biography of the music executive and entertainment impresario Simon Cowell, Sweet Revenge: The Intimate Life of Simon Cowell, was written with Cowell's co-operation and published in April 2012. Cowell later said that Ecclestone had advised him to co-operate with Bower.[29] The title of the book refers to Cowell's relationship with fellow entertainment impresario Simon Fuller.[30] Though Cowell had given Bower some 200 hours of access to him, Bower subsequently said that Cowell had tried to restrict his access to sources.[30] Cowell contacted Bower after the book's publication to say that he had found it "a bit embarrassing", adding "you got things I didn't know you'd got."[31] Bower has secured Cowell's co-operation for a planned sequel to the book.[31]

Broken Vows – Tony Blair: The Tragedy of Power, was published in March 2016.[32]

Rebel Prince, which describes Prince Charles's attempts to recover his popularity after the death of Princess Diana, reached number one in the Sunday Times bestseller list and was serialised in the Daily Mail.

In 2019, a biography of Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn, Dangerous Hero, was published. Serialised at length in the Mail on Sunday, it was a number two Sunday Times bestseller.[33][34] The book accused Jeremy Corbyn of being an anti-Semitic Marxist. The book has been seriously criticised by Peter Oborne, writing in Middle East Eye, for its lack of referencing, alleged factual errors and the systematic omittance of relevant facts.[35] Stephen Bush, writing in The Guardian, referred to the book as a "hatchet job" littered with "rudimentary errors"[36] and journalist Oscar Rickett called it "garbage".[37] In the book, he made false allegations against the Palestinian Return Centre. Along with the publisher HarperCollins he made a full, unqualified withdrawal of the allegations, but neither apologised nor paid any money to the complainant or the lawyers. The allegations are to be removed from all future editions of the book.[38] The Mail on Sunday and MailOnline which serialised the book had to pay full damages and issue a written apology.[39][40][41]

The biography Boris Johnson: The Gambler was published by WH Allen on 15 October 2020 and has been noted for being sympathetic about the subject of the biography, in contrast with some of Bower's previous works.[42][43]

Personal life

Bower is married to Veronica Wadley, Baroness Fleet, former editor of the London Evening Standard, and has four children. They live in London.[1]

Bibliography

Biographical subject noted before title:

  • Blind Eye to Murder: The Pledge Betrayed (1981) ISBN 978-0-233-97292-3
  • Klaus Barbie – Klaus Barbie: Butcher of Lyon (1984) ISBN 978-0-552-12548-2
  • The Paperclip Conspiracy (1987) ISBN 978-0-586-08686-5
  • Red Web (1989) ISBN 978-0-749-31478-1
  • Robert Maxwell – Maxwell: The Outsider (1991) ISBN 978-0-749-30238-2
  • Tiny Rowland – Tiny Rowland: A Rebel Tycoon (1993) ISBN 978-0-434-07339-9
  • Dick White – The Perfect English Spy: Sir Dick White and the Secret War, 1935–90 (1995) ISBN 978-0-749-32332-5
  • Heroes of World War II (1995) ISBN 978-0-752-21674-4
  • Robert Maxwell – Maxwell: The Final Verdict (1996) ISBN 978-0-007-29287-5
  • Nazi Gold (1997) ISBN 978-0-060-17535-1
  • Blood Money: The Swiss, the Nazis and the Looted Billions (1997) ISBN 978-0-330-35395-3
  • Mohamed Al-Fayed – Fayed: The Unauthorised Biography (1998) ISBN 978-0-330-37239-8
  • Richard Branson – Branson (2000) ISBN 1-84115-400-8
  • Geoffrey Robinson – The Paymaster: Geoffrey Robinson, Maxwell and New Labour (2001) ISBN 978-0-743-41572-9
  • Broken Dreams: Vanity, Greed and the Souring of British Football (2003) ISBN 978-1-847-39003-5
  • Gordon Brown – Gordon Brown (2004) ISBN 978-0-007-17540-6
  • Conrad Black and Barbara Amiel – Conrad and Lady Black: Dancing on the Edge (2006) ISBN 978-0-007-23234-5
  • The Squeeze: Oil, Money and Greed in the 21st Century (2010) ISBN 0-446-54798-0
  • Bernie Ecclestone – No Angel: The Secret Life of Bernie Ecclestone (2011) ISBN 978-0-571-26929-7
  • Simon Cowell – Sweet Revenge: The Intimate Life of Simon Cowell (2012) ISBN 978-0-571-27835-0
  • Richard Branson – Branson: Behind the Mask (2014) ISBN 978-0-571-29709-2
  • Tony Blair – Broken Vows: Tony Blair and the Tragedy of Power (2016) ISBN 978-0-571-31420-1
  • Charles, Prince of Wales – Rebel Prince: The Power, Passion and Defiance of Prince Charles (2018) ISBN 978-0-008-29173-0
  • Jeremy Corbyn – Dangerous Hero: Corbyn's Ruthless Plot for Power (2019) ISBN 978-0-008-29957-6
  • Boris Johnson – Boris Johnson: The Gambler (2020) ISBN 978-0-753-55490-6
  • Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex – Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors (2022) ISBN 978-1788705035

References

  1. 1 2 3 Tom Bower (26 July 2009). "My week: Tom Bower". The Observer. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 Sophie McBain (19 February 2014). "Tom Bower: the biographer as big-game hunter". New Statesman. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  3. ↑ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  4. ↑ "Page 3462 | Issue 41095, 7 June 1957 | London Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  5. ↑ "Tom Bower's Diary: My Marxist past, abuse from Tariq Ali, a warning for Meghan and the demise of Today". www.newstatesman.com. 20 February 2019.
  6. 1 2 Chris Tryhorn (23 July 2009). "Tom Bower: biographer with a taste for the secrets of the powerful". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
  7. ↑ Tom Bower (9 September 2002). "The people who sank Panorama". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
  8. ↑ Tom Bower. "On the butcher's block.", The Times, London, 19 September 1983, pg 12.
  9. ↑ Neil Ascherson, "Doing the dirty work.", The Observer, London, 29 January 1984, pg 52.
  10. ↑ Steve Lohr (1 May 1988). "Britains Maverick Mogul". New York Times Magazine. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
  11. ↑ Dennis Barker and Christopher Sylvester (6 November 1991). "The Grasshopper obituary of Robert Maxwell". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  12. ↑ Helsinki Watch (1991). Restricted subjects:freedom of expression in the United Kingdom. Helsinki Watch. ISBN 9780300056242. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  13. ↑ Stuart McGurk (5 April 2011). "How to write a biography". GQ Magazine (British edition). Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
  14. 1 2 "Bower". www.banking.senate.gov. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  15. ↑ Hoffman, Michael L. (7 December 1949). "Swiss Will Turn Over to Warsaw Property of Heirless Polish Jews; Agreement for Transfer of Funds Left by War Victims Brings Strong Protests That Assets Should Go to Refugee Body". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  16. ↑ Picard, Jacques (1993). Switzerland and the Assets of the Missing Victims of the Nazis: Assets in Switzerland Belonging to Victims of Racial, Religious and Political Persecution and Their Disposition Between 1946 and 1973. Switzerland: Bank Baer. p. 10.
  17. ↑ BBC News (23 March 2000). "Branson sues over lottery jibe". BBC News. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
  18. 1 2 Lynn Barber (17 November 2002). "Planes, trains and publicity". The Observer. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
  19. ↑ John Tillman (11 July 2001). "Must the defamation defence of 'fair comment' be 'fair'". Press Gazette. Archived from the original on 25 February 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
  20. ↑ Tom Bower (12 December 2005). "Richard's brand – Branson hype has hidden his record of failures". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
  21. ↑ "Branson: Behind the Mask". Faber and Faber. Archived from the original on 29 January 2014. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  22. ↑ BBC News (31 October 2001). "Robinson suspended from Commons". BBC News. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  23. ↑ Press Gazette (21 February 2007). "Conrad Black sues Bower". Press Gazette. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
  24. ↑ Simon Houpt and Paul Wilde (18 June 2012). "Conrad Black's trials not over". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  25. ↑ James Robinson (7 July 2009). "Tom Bower book damaged Richard Desmond's 'super-tough' reputation, court hears". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
  26. ↑ Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Culture, Media and Sport Committee (2010). Press Standards, Privacy and Libel. The Stationery Office. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-215-54408-7.
  27. ↑ Helen Pidd and Chris Tryhorn (23 July 2009). "Richard Desmond loses libel case against Tom Bower". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
  28. 1 2 3 Richard Williams (10 December 2011). "The Saturday interview: Bernie Ecclestone". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  29. ↑ "Simon Cowell: I spent last week hiding under a pillow in my bedroom after book revelations". The Telegraph. 26 April 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  30. 1 2 Dan Sabbagh (18 April 2012). "Simon Cowell 'tried to restrict biographer's access'". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  31. 1 2 "Simon Cowell biographer plans sequel". The Telegraph. 23 April 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  32. ↑ "Faber announces major biography of Tony Blair by Tom Bower for Spring publication". Curtis Brown. 1 December 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  33. ↑ "Opinion: Here's why the 'devastating' expose on Corbyn might actually work in his favour". The Independent. 10 February 2019. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  34. ↑ Bush, Stephen (24 February 2019). "Dangerous Hero review - Corbyn hatchet job turns out to be blunt instrument". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  35. ↑ "Jeremy Corbyn and the truth about Tom Bower's book". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  36. ↑ "Dangerous Hero review – Corbyn hatchet job turns out to be blunt instrument". the Guardian. 24 February 2019.
  37. ↑ Rickett, Oscar (11 March 2019). "The Latest Hatchet Job on Corbyn Is Garbage". Vice.
  38. ↑ "HarperCollins to remove false comments from Tom Bower's Corbyn biography". Middle East Eye.
  39. ↑ "Pro-Palestine group wins legal battle against MailOnline over false anti-Semitism claim". MEMO. 18 June 2020.
  40. ↑ "Palestinian Return Centre secures apologies and damages from Mail on Sunday over Tom Bower libel | Carter-Ruck". www.carter-ruck.com.
  41. ↑ "Mail on Sunday apologises to UK-based Palestinian centre over antisemitic slur". Middle East Eye.
  42. ↑ Bickerstaff, Isaac (5 October 2020). "Tom Bower lifts the lids on the real Boris Johnson in unauthorised biography 'The Gambler'". Tatler.
  43. ↑ Ippolito, Luigi (18 October 2020). "Boris Johnson, il bimbo triste dietro lo "sbruffone"". Corriere della Sera.
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