Coordinates	23°33′″N46°38′″N
Country	England
Region	London
Official name	Wapping
Static image
Static image caption	The Prospect of Whitby is a Wapping landmark.
Latitude	51.5073
Longitude	-0.0610
Os grid reference	TQ345805
Post town	LONDON
Postcode area	E
Postcode district	E1
London borough	Tower Hamlets
Dial code	020
Constituency westminster	Poplar and Limehouse }}

Wapping ( ) is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets which forms part of the Docklands to the east of the City of London. It is situated between the north bank of the River Thames and the ancient thoroughfare simply called The Highway. Wapping's proximity to the river has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains through its riverside public houses and steps, such as the Prospect of Whitby and Wapping Stairs.

Many of the original buildings were demolished during the construction of the London Docks and Wapping was further seriously damaged during the Blitz. As the London Docklands declined after the Second World War, the area became run down, with the great warehouses left empty. The area's fortunes were transformed during the 1980s by the London Docklands Development Corporation when the warehouses started to be converted into luxury flats.

Rupert Murdoch moved his News International printing and publishing works into Wapping in 1986, resulting in a trade union dispute that became known as the "Battle of Wapping".

History

Origins

The area was first settled by Saxons, from whom it takes its name (meaning literally "[the place of] Wæppa's people"). It developed along the embankment of the Thames, hemmed in by the river to the south and the now-drained Wapping Marsh to the north. This gave it a peculiarly narrow and constricted shape, consisting of little more than the axis of Wapping High Street and some north-south side streets. John Stow, the 16th century historian, described it as a "continual street, or a filthy strait passage, with alleys of small tenements or cottages, built, inhabited by sailors' victuallers".

Wapping's proximity to the river gave it a strong maritime character for centuries, well into the 20th century. It was inhabited by sailors, mastmakers, boat-builders, blockmakers, instrument-makers, victuallers and representatives of all the other trades that supported the seafarer. Wapping was also the site of 'Execution Dock', where pirates and other water-borne criminals faced execution by hanging from a gibbet constructed close to the low water mark. Their bodies would be left dangling until they had been submerged three times by the tide.

The Bell Inn, by execution dock was run by Samuel Batts. His daughter, Elizabeth, married James Cook in 1762 at Barking, after the Royal Navy captain had stayed at the Inn. The couple initially settled in Shadwell, attending St Paul's church, but later moved to Mile End. Although they had six children together, much of their married life was spent apart, with Cook absent on his voyages and, after his murder in 1779 at Kealakekua Bay, she survived until 1835.

Dockland area

Said to be England's first, the Marine Police Force was formed in 1798 by magistrate Patrick Colquhoun and a Master Mariner, John Harriott, to tackle theft and looting from ships anchored in the Pool of London and the lower reaches of the river. Its base was (and remains) in Wapping High Street and it is now known as the Marine Support Unit. The Thames Police Museum, dedicated to the history of the Marine Police Force, is currently housed within the headquarters of the Marine Support Unit, and is open to the public by appointment.

In 1811, the horrific Ratcliff Highway murders took place nearby at The Highway and Wapping Lane.

The area's strong maritime associations changed radically in the 19th century when the London Docks were built to the north and west of the High Street. Wapping's population plummeted by nearly 60% during that century, with many houses destroyed by the construction of the docks and giant warehouses along the riverfront. Squeezed between the high walls of the docks and warehouses, the district became isolated from the rest of London, although some relief was provided by Brunel's Thames Tunnel to Rotherhithe. The opening of Wapping tube station on the East London Line in 1869 provided a direct rail link to the rest of London.

Modern times

Wapping was devastated by German bombing in World War II and by the post-war closure of the docks. It remained a run-down and derelict area into the 1980s, when the area was transferred to the management of the London Docklands Development Corporation, a government quango with the task of redeveloping the Docklands. The London Docks were largely filled in and redeveloped with a variety of commercial, light industrial and residential properties.

In 1986, Rupert Murdoch's News International built a new £80m printing and publishing works in the north of Wapping. This became the scene of violent protests after News International's UK operation moved from Fleet Street to Wapping, with over 5,000 print workers being sacked when new technology was introduced.

Wapping dispute

The "Wapping dispute" or "Battle of Wapping" was, along with the miners' strike of 1984-85, a significant turning point in the history of the trade union movement and of UK industrial relations. It started on 24 January 1986 when some 6,000 newspaper workers went on strike after protracted negotiation with their employer, News International (parent of Times Newspapers and News Group Newspapers, and chaired by Rupert Murdoch). News International had built and clandestinely equipped a new printing plant for all its titles in Wapping, and when the print unions announced a strike it activated this new plant with the assistance of the Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union (EETPU).

The plant was nicknamed "Fortress Wapping" when the sacked print workers effectively besieged it, mounting round-the-clock pickets and blockades in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to thwart the move. In 2005, News International announced the intention to move the print works to regional presses based in Broxbourne (the world's largest printing plant, opened March 2008), Liverpool and Glasgow. The editorial staff were to remain, however, and there was talk of redeveloping the sizeable plot that makes up the printing works.

Landmarks

Perhaps Wapping's greatest attraction is the Thames foreshore itself, and the venerable public houses that face onto it. A number of the old 'stairs', such as Wapping Old Stairs and Pelican Stairs (by the Prospect of Whitby) give public access to a littoral zone (for the Thames is tidal at this point) littered with flotsam, jetsam and fragments of old dock installations. Understandably it is popular with amateur archaeologists and treasure hunters - it is surprisingly easy for even a casual visitor to pick up a centuries-old shard of pottery here.

St George in the East

St George in the East on Cannon Street Road is one of six Hawksmoor churches in London, built from 1714 to 1729, with funding from the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches.

When the church was hit by a bomb during the Blitz the original interior was destroyed by the fire, but the walls and distinctive "pepper-pot" towers stayed up. In 1964 a modern church interior was constructed inside the existing walls for the active congregation, and a new flat built under each corner tower.

Behind the church lies St George's Gardens, the original cemetery, which was passed to Stepney Council to maintain as a public park in mid-Victorian times.

Execution Dock

The "Execution Dock" was located on the Thames. It was used by the Admiralty for over 400 years (as late as 1830) to hang pirates that had been convicted and sentenced to death by the Admiralty court.

The Admiralty only had jurisdiction over crimes on the sea, so the dock was located within their jurisdiction by being located far enough offshore as to be beyond the low-tide mark. It was used to kill the notorious Captain Kidd. Many prisoners would be executed together as a public event in front of a crowd of onlookers after being paraded from the Marshalsea Prison across London Bridge and past the Tower of London to the dock.

Public houses

Three venerable public houses are located near Stairs. By Pelican Stairs is the Prospect of Whitby, which has a much-disputed claim to be the oldest Thames-side public house still in existence. Be that as it may, there has been an inn on the site since the reign of Henry VIII, and it is certainly one of the most famous public houses in London. It is named after a then-famous collier that used to dock regularly at Wapping. A replica of the old Execution Dock gibbet is maintained on the adjacent foreshore, although the actual site of Execution Dock was nearer to the ''Town of Ramsgate''. This also is on the site of a 16th century inn and is located next to Wapping Old Stairs to the west of the ''Prospect''; by Wapping Pier Head — the former local headquarters of the Customs and Excise.

Situated half way between the two is the ''Captain Kidd'', named after the Scottish privateer William Kidd. He was hanged on the Wapping foreshore in 1701 after being found guilty of murder and piracy. Although the pub occupies a 17th century building, it was established only in the 1980s.

Literary and cultural references

Wapping has been used as the setting for a number of works of fiction, including ''The Long Good Friday''; the ''Doctor Who'' episode "The Talons of Weng-Chiang"; the ''Ruby In The Smoke'' novel in the Sally Lockhart series by Phillip Pullman; the BBC sitcom ''Till Death Us Do Part'', in which the central character, Alf Garnett, shares his name with Garnet Street in Wapping; and the brothel in ''The Threepenny Opera'', in which Mack the Knife is betrayed by Jenny Diver. ''The Darlings of Wapping Wharf Launderette'' is a compilation album by East End group the Small Faces.

Fictional residents also include Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe, an officer in the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars; and Dr. Lemuel Gulliver, the title character of Johnathan Swift's ''Gulliver's Travels'' who, in the novel, lived in Wapping before going to sea.

In the best-selling PlayStation 2 game ''Stuntman'' the first 'film' the player takes part in is entitled 'Toothless in Wapping.'

Notable people

Among the people born in Wapping are W.W. Jacobs, author of ''The Monkey's Paw''. The American painter James McNeill Whistler, well known for his Thames views, painted ''Wapping'' when he lived at Wapping between October 1860 and 1864. The painting is permanently displayed at the National Gallery of Art Washington.

During the 1990s, Wapping was home to American entertainer Cher. TV presenter Graham Norton, currently (as of 2010) lives in the locality.

Education

Transport

;Nearby areas

Bermondsey

Whitechapel

Rotherhithe

Shadwell

Stepney

Bethnal Green

Ratcliffe

Opened in June 2010, the nearest London Overground station is Wapping railway station.

See also

London Docks

Shadwell Basin

Tobacco Dock

Wapping Hydraulic Power Station

Stepney Historical Trust

References

Notes

Bibliography

Martha Leigh, ''Memories of Wapping 1900-1960: Couldn't Afford the Eels'', The History Press Ltd (4 July 2008), ISBN 0752447092

Madge Darby, ''Waeppa's People: History of Wapping'', Connor & Butler (Dec 1988), ISBN 0947699104

National Council for Civil Liberties, ''No Way in Wapping: Effect of the Policing of the News International Dispute on Wapping Residents'', Civil Liberties Trust (May 1986), ISBN 0946088276

External links

Local government site

ExploringEastLondon - Wapping

Thames Police Museum website

What's in Wapping - Local community website

Category:Districts of Tower Hamlets Category:Districts of London Category:Districts of London on the River Thames Category:Port of London

hi:वैपिंग it:Wapping he:וופינג nl:Wapping no:Wapping

Coordinates	23°33′″N46°38′″N
name	Ronnie Lane
landscape	yes
background	solo_singer
birth name	Ronald Frederick Lane
alias	Plonk, Three-Piece
born	April 01, 1946Plaistow, East LondonUnited Kingdom
died	June 04, 1997Trinidad, ColoradoUnited States
instrument	Bass, guitar, vocals
genre	Rock, rhythm and blues, psychedelic rock, folk rock
occupation	Musician, songwriter, producer
years active	1965–1992
label	A&M;, Atlantic, Immediate, Island
associated acts	Faces, Small Faces, Slim Chance, Ronnie Lane and the 7 Samurai, Pete Townshend, Ron Wood
notable instruments	Zemaitis Bass, Harmony H22 Bass, Fender Jazz Bass }}

Ronald Frederick "Ronnie" Lane (1 April 1946 - 4 June 1997) was an English musician, songwriter, and producer who is best known as the bass guitarist and founding member of two prominent English rock and roll bands; the Small Faces where he was nicknamed "Plonk", (1965–69)-- and, after losing the band's frontman, Faces, with two new members added to the line up, (from The Jeff Beck Group), who dubbed him "Three-Piece" (1969–73).

Subsequently Lane collaborated with other musicians, leading his own bands as well as pursuing a solo career while remaining close to his former bandmates. In the late 1970s he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and, despite charity projects and financial support from friends, former bandmates and fans, Lane, after suffering from the disease for 21 years, died at 51.

Early life

Lane was born in Forest Gate, a working class area in the East End of London, to Elsie Lane and Stanley Lane, a lorry driver, who Lane later described as a "saint", who would work a long work day, and then return home to nurse his wife and two sons, all of whom were diagnosed with M.S. at differing points in their lives. As a child, the doctors assured Lane that the destructive disease was not necessarily inherited, although he found out otherwise later in his life. After leaving school at the age of sixteen, Lane met Kenney Jones at a local pub and they formed a group they named The Outcasts. Initially playing lead guitar, Lane quickly switched to bass. When shopping for a Harmony bass guitar Lane visited the J60 Music Bar in Manor Park, London where he met Steve Marriott who was working there. Lane bought his bass and went to Marriott's house after work where Marriott introduced him to his Motown and Stax collection. Lane and Marriott set out to form a band, recruiting friends Kenney Jones and Jimmy Winston, who switched from guitar to organ. Marriott was chosen to be the frontman and singer.

Small Faces

The Small Faces were Lane on bass guitar, Marriott as guitarist and lead vocalist, Kenney Jones as drummer, and Winston on keyboards, They made their debut in 1965, Ian McLagan replacing Winston in November 1965. Lane and Marriott began writing hit songs consistently, including "Itchycoo Park" and "All or Nothing". At least a dozen successful songs credit Lane, and the 1968 concept album ''Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake'' features songs co-written by Lane with one exception. The album made it to #1 on the UK Albums Chart for six weeks. The band disbanded in 1969 as Marriott left the group. The group reformed during the late 1970s but Lane did not join them.

Faces

Lane formed The Faces with McLagan, Jones, Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart in 1969. He shared primary songwriting duties in Faces with Rod Stewart, composing, or co-composing, many of their best-loved pieces and taking a central role during the recording of their fourth and final album, ''Ooh La La'', particularly, as the band's front man, Rod Stewart focused on his own solo career. Unhappy due to poor reviews of the album and Stewart's lack of commitment, Lane quit in 1973, making his last appearance at the Sundown Theatre in Edmonton, London on 4 June. He was replaced by Tetsu Yamauchi but the group split in 1975.

Slim Chance and later career

After leaving the Faces Lane formed his own band Slim Chance, who recorded the hit singles "How Come" (UK No. 11) and "The Poacher" (UK No. 36) and the album ''Anymore for Anymore'', showcasing a blend of British rock music, folk and country music.

After initial success he commenced a tour called "The Passing Show", touring the UK as a carnival complete with tents and barkers. Viv Stanshall, from the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, was a short-lived ringmaster (of sorts). Lane moved to Island Records and issued ''Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance'' and ''One for the Road''. In late 1976 he joined a short-lived reformation of Small Faces but quit after two rehearsals, to be replaced by Rick Wills (who later played alongside former Small Faces drummer Kenney Jones in The Jones Gang). However, Lane had signed a contract with Atlantic Records as part of the Small Faces, and was informed that he owed the company an album. His ensuing album with Pete Townshend, ''Rough Mix'', produced by Glyn Johns, which was released in 1977, was lauded as contender for best album of the year by many critics, but the label did not promote it and sales were lacklustre.

During the recording of ''Rough Mix'', Lane's multiple sclerosis was diagnosed. Nonetheless he toured, wrote and recorded (with Eric Clapton among others) and released another album, ''See Me (album)|'', which features several songs written by Lane and Clapton. Around this time Lane travelled the highways and byways of England and lived a 'passing show' modern nomadic life in full Gypsy Traveller costume and accommodation.

In 1983 his girlfriend Boo Oldfield contacted Glyn Johns with a view to organizing a concert to help fund Action for Research into Multiple Sclerosis. Johns was already arranging Clapton's Command Performance for Prince Charles so they decided to book the Royal Albert Hall for another couple of nights and host a benefit concert. The resulting A.R.M.S. concerts featured Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, Kenney Jones, Andy Fairweather-Low and others. With the addition of Joe Cocker and Paul Rodgers they toured the U.S.

Move to Texas and death

Lane moved to Texas in 1984, where he continued playing, writing, and recording. He formed an American version of Slim Chance, which was, as always, a loose-knit conglomeration of available musicians. For much of the time, membership included Alejandro Escovedo. For close to a decade Lane enjoyed "rock royalty" status in the Austin area. He toured Japan but his health continued to decline. His last performance was in 1992 at a Ronnie Wood gig alongside Ian McLagan. In 1994 Ronnie and his wife Susan moved to the small town of Trinidad, Colorado. Jimmy Page, Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood continued to fund his medical care because no royalties from The Small Faces' work was forthcoming until Kenney Jones and Ian McLagan were eventually able to secure payments, by which time Steve Marriott had died in a house fire and Lane had succumbed to pneumonia, on 4 June 1997. An album of live BBC recordings was about to be released to raise money for his care when Lane died.

Tributes

The Ocean Colour Scene song "Travellers Tune" on their 1997 studio album ''Marchin' Already'' was inspired by and written in the memory of Ronnie Lane, a strong influence on the group, which appeared at the tribute concert for Ronnie Lane. Likewise Lane had been such a source of inspiration to the members of Poi Dog Pondering that they created a tribute page for him and in 1995 band member Susan Voelz covered Lane's song, "Glad and Sorry" on her 1995 album, ''Summer Crashing'', "out of her respect and affection for Ronnie Lane". In 2000, Paul Weller recorded "He's the Keeper", a song dedicated to Lane's memory. An album of live and in-studio recordings from Lane's Austin days was later culled, and released as ''Live in Austin''. Plaistow (his birthplace in East London) named a street "Ronnie Lane" after him in 2001. In January 2006 BBC Four broadcast an extensive documentary about Lane, ''The Passing Show'' that had been in preparation since 2000 and aired vintage concerts by Faces and Slim Chance. In October 2006 the documentary was also shown on BBC Two.

Discography

Small Faces

;Studio albums

''Small Faces'' (1966)

''Small Faces'' (1967)

''Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake'' (1968)

''Playmates'' (1977)

''78 in the Shade'' (1978)

Faces

;Studio albums

''First Step'' (1970)

''Long Player'' (1971)

''A Nod Is as Good as a Wink... to a Blind Horse'' (1971)

''Ooh La La'' (1973)

''Coast to Coast: Overture and Beginners'' (1974)

According to the Wikipedia page for "The Faces", Ronnie Lane left the group before the 1974 tour, and hence was not featured on the album "Coast to Coast", neither are any of the songs performed on that album Lane compositions.

Solo discography

''Anymore for Anymore''

''Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance''

''One for the Road''

''Mahoney's Last Stand'' (Album with Ron Wood)

''See Me (album)''

''You Never Can Tell (The BBC Sessions)''

''Kuschty Rye (The Singles 1973-1980)''

''Tin and Tambourine'' (compilation)

''Rocket 69'' (Live on German TV)

''Live in Austin''

''April Fool'' (compilation 1999)

''How Come'' (compilation 2001)

''Ain't No One Like'' (compilation 2003)

''Just For a Moment'' (compilation 2006)

Collaborations

''Happy Birthday'' (with Pete Townshend) (1970)

''I Am'' (with Pete Townshend) (1972)

''Mahoney's Last Stand'' (with Ronnie Wood) (September, 1976) Atlantic

''With Love'' (with Pete Townshend) (1976)

''Rough Mix'' (with Pete Townshend) (1977) US #45

''The Legendary Majik Mijits'' (with Steve Marriott) (1980)

''Victory Gardens'' (1991) (with folk duo John & Mary)

References

External links

Slim-chance.co.uk The band have reformed

Video tribute to Ronnie Lane

Small Faces on Room for Ravers

Article on Lane at Find-A-Grave

Category:1946 births Category:1997 deaths Category:English rock bass guitarists Category:English songwriters Category:English male singers Category:English expatriates in the United States Category:Followers of Meher Baba Category:Small Faces members Category:People from Plaistow, Newham Category:People with multiple sclerosis Category:Deaths from pneumonia Category:A&M; Records artists Category:Atlantic Records artists Category:Island Records artists Category:British rhythm and blues boom musicians

ca:Ronnie Lane de:Ronnie Lane es:Ronnie Lane fr:Ronnie Lane it:Ronnie Lane ja:ロニー・レーン no:Ronnie Lane pt:Ronnie Lane fi:Ronnie Lane sv:Ronnie Lane

Coordinates	23°33′″N46°38′″N
name	Rupert Murdoch
birth date	March 11, 1931
birth name	Keith Rupert Murdoch
birth place	Melbourne, Australia
nationality	United States
citizenship	United States (naturalized 1985)
occupation	Chairman and CEO ofNews Corporation
networth	US$7.6 billion (2011)
spouse	(divorced) (divorced)
children	Prudence Murdoch (b. 1958) Elisabeth Murdoch (b. 1968) Lachlan Murdoch (b. 1971)James Murdoch (b. 1972)Grace Murdoch (b. 2001) Chloe Murdoch (b. 2003)
parents	Keith Murdoch (1885–1952)Elisabeth Joy (née Greene, b. 1909)
relatives	Matthew Freud (son-in-law)Sarah Murdoch (daughter-in-law)
awards	Companion of the Order of Australia (1984).
footnotes	Australian citizenship lost in 1985 (under S17 of Australian Citizenship Act 1948) with acquisition of US nationality }}

Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG (born 11 March 1931) is an Australian American business magnate. He is the Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate.

In 1953, Murdoch became managing director of News Limited, inherited from his father. He acquired troubled newspapers in Australia and New Zealand during the 1950s and '60s before expanding into the UK in 1969, taking over the ''News of the World'' and then the ''The Sun'', which he built into Britain's best selling daily. He moved to New York in 1974 and expanded into the US market, and in 1985 he became a US citizen. In 1981, he bought ''The Times'', his first British broadsheet. In 1986, keen to adopt newer electronic publishing technologies, he consolidated his UK printing operations in Wapping, causing bitter industrial disputes. His News Corporation acquired Twentieth Century Fox (1985), HarperCollins (1989) and ''The Wall Street Journal'' (2007). He formed BSkyB in 1990 and during the 1990s expanded into Asian networks and South American television. By 2000 Murdoch's News Corporation owned over 800 companies in more than 50 countries with a net worth of over $5 billion.

In July 2011 Murdoch faced allegations that his companies including the ''News of the World'', owned by News Corporation, had been regularly hacking the phones of private citizens. He also faces police and government investigations into bribery and corruption in the UK and FBI investigations in the US.

Murdoch has been listed three times in the ''Time'' 100 as among the most influential people in the world. He is ranked 13th most powerful person in the world in the 2010 ''Forbes''' The World's Most Powerful People list. With a personal net worth of US$7.6 billion, he was ranked 117th wealthiest person in the world in March 2011.

Early life

Rupert Murdoch was born in Melbourne, the only son of Sir Keith Murdoch (1885–1952) and Elisabeth Joy (née Greene) (b. 1909). Elisabeth is of English and Scottish ancestry. They were both born in Melbourne. Keith was a renowned war correspondent and later a regional newspaper magnate. He asked for a rendezvous after seeing her debutante photograph in one of his own newspapers and they married in 1928, when she was aged 19 and he 23 years her senior. In addition to Rupert, the couple had three daughters: Janet Calvert-Jones, Anne Kantor and Helen Handbury (1929–2004).

Rupert Murdoch attended the elite Geelong Grammar School, where he had his first experience of editing a publication, being co-editor of the school's official journal ''The Corian'' and editor of the student journal ''If Revived''. He worked part time at the ''Melbourne Herald'' and was groomed by his father from an early age to take over the family business. Murdoch read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Worcester College, Oxford University in England, where he supported the Labour Party. After his father's death from cancer in 1952, Elisabeth Murdoch went on to invest herself in charity work, as life governor of the Royal Women's Hospital in Melbourne and establishing the Murdoch Children's Research Institute. At 102 (in 2011) she has 74 descendants. Rupert Murdoch did an MA before working as a sub-editor with the ''Daily Express'' for two years.

Activities in Australia and New Zealand

Following his father's death, when he was 21, Murdoch returned from Oxford to take charge of the family business News Limited, which had been established in 1923. Rupert Murdoch turned its newspaper, ''Adelaide News'', its main asset, into a major success. He began to direct his attention to acquisition and expansion, buying the troubled ''Sunday Times'' in Perth, Western Australia (1956) and over the next few years acquiring suburban and provincial newspapers in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and the Northern Territory, including the Sydney afternoon tabloid, ''The Daily Mirror'' (1960). ''The Economist'' describes Murdoch as "inventing the modern tabloid", as he developed a pattern for his newspapers, increasing sports and scandal coverage and adopting eye-catching headlines.

Murdoch's first foray outside Australia involved the purchase of a controlling interest in the New Zealand daily ''The Dominion''. In January 1964, while touring New Zealand with friends in a rented Morris Minor after sailing across the Tasman, Murdoch read of a takeover bid for the Wellington paper by the British-based Canadian newspaper magnate, Lord Thomson of Fleet. On the spur of the moment, he launched a counter-bid. A four-way battle for control ensued in which the 32-year-old Murdoch was ultimately successful. Later in 1964, Murdoch launched ''The Australian'', Australia's first national daily newspaper, and its first broadsheet, which was based first in Canberra and later in Sydney. In 1972, Murdoch acquired the Sydney morning tabloid ''The Daily Telegraph'' from Australian media mogul Sir Frank Packer, who later regreted selling it to him. In 1984, Murdoch was awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia for services to publishing.

In 1999, Murdoch significantly expanded his music holdings in Australia by acquiring the controlling share in a leading Australian independent label, Michael Gudinski's Mushroom Records; he merged that with Festival Records, and the result was Festival Mushroom Records (FMR). Both Festival and FMR were managed by Murdoch's son James Murdoch for several years.

Political activities in Australia

Murdoch found a political ally in John McEwen, leader of the Australian Country Party (now known as the National Party of Australia), who was governing in coalition with the larger Menzies-Holt Liberal Party. From the very first issue of ''The Australian'' Murdoch began taking McEwen's side in every issue that divided the long-serving coalition partners. (The Australian, 15 July 1964, first edition, front page: "Strain in Cabinet, Liberal-CP row flares.") It was an issue that threatened to split the coalition government and open the way for the stronger Australian Labor Party to dominate Australian politics. It was the beginning of a long campaign that served McEwen well.

After McEwen and Menzies retired, Murdoch threw his growing power behind the Australian Labor Party under the leadership of Gough Whitlam and duly saw it elected on a social platform that included universal free health care, free education for all Australians to tertiary level, recognition of the People's Republic of China, and public ownership of Australia's oil, gas and mineral resources. Rupert Murdoch's backing of Whitlam turned out to be brief. Murdoch had already started his short-lived ''National Star'' newspaper in America, and was seeking to strengthen his political contacts there.

Asked about the Australian federal election, 2007 at News Corporation's annual general meeting in New York on 19 October 2007, its chairman Rupert Murdoch said, "I am not commenting on anything to do with Australian politics. I'm sorry. I always get into trouble when I do that." Pressed as to whether he believed Prime Minister John Howard should be re-elected, he said: "I have nothing further to say. I'm sorry. Read our editorials in the papers. It'll be the journalists who decide that – the editors." In 2009, in response to accusations by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd that News Limited was running vendettas against him and his government, Murdoch opined that Rudd was "oversensitive" Murdoch described Howard's successor, Labor Party Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, as "...more ambitious to lead the world [in tackling climate change] than to lead Australia..." and criticised Rudd's expansionary fiscal policies in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008 as unnecessary. Although News Limited's interests are extensive, also including the ''Daily Telegraph'', the ''Courier-Mail'' and the ''Adelaide Advertiser'', it was suggested by the commentator Mungo MacCallum in ''The Monthly'' that "the anti-Rudd push, if coordinated at all, was almost certainly locally driven" as opposed to being directed by Murdoch, who also took a different position from local editors on such matters climate change and stimulus packages to combat the financial crisis.

Activities in Britain

Business activities in Britain

In 1968 Murdoch entered the UK newspaper market with his acquisition of the populist ''News of the World'', followed in 1969 with the purchase of the struggling daily broadsheet ''The Sun'' from IPC. Murdoch turned it into a tabloid format and reduced costs by using the same printing press for both newspapers. In 1997 ''The Sun'' attracted 10 million daily readers. In 1981, Murdoch acquired the struggling ''Times'' and ''Sunday Times'' from Canadian newspaper publisher Lord Thomson of Fleet. Ownership of ''The Times'' came to him through his relationship with Lord Thomson, who had grown tired of losing money on it as a result of much industrial action that stopped publication. In the light of success and expansion at ''The Sun'' the owners believed that Murdoch could turn the papers around. Harold Evans, Editor of the ''Sunday Times'' from 1967, was made head of the daily ''Times'', though he stayed only a year amidst editorial conflict with Murdoch.

During the 1980s and early 1990s, Murdoch's publications were generally supportive of Britain's Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. At the end of the Thatcher/Major era, Murdoch switched his support to the Labour Party and its leader, Tony Blair. The closeness of his relationship with Blair and their secret meetings to discuss national policies was to become a political issue in Britain. Though this later started to change, with ''The Sun'' publicly renouncing the ruling Labour government and lending its support to David Cameron's Conservative Party, which soon after came to form a coalition government. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown's official spokesman said in November 2009 that Brown and Murdoch "were in regular communication" and that "there is nothing unusual in the prime minister talking to Rupert Murdoch".

In 1986, Murdoch introduced electronic production processes to his newspapers in Australia, Britain and the United States. The greater degree of automation led to significant reductions in the number of employees involved in the printing process. In England, the move roused the anger of the print unions, resulting in a long and often violent dispute that played out in Wapping, one of London's docklands areas, where Murdoch had installed the very latest electronic newspaper purpose-built publishing facility in an old warehouse. The bitter dispute at Wapping started with the dismissal of 6,000 employees who had gone on strike and resulted in street battles and demonstrations. Many on the political left in Britain alleged the collusion of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government with Murdoch in the Wapping affair, as a way of damaging the British trade union movement. In 1987, the dismissed workers accepted a settlement of £60 million.

Murdoch's British-based satellite network, Sky Television, incurred massive losses in its early years of operation. As with many of his other business interests, Sky was heavily subsidised by the profits generated by his other holdings, but convinced rival satellite operator British Satellite Broadcasting to accept a merger on his terms in 1990. They were quick to see advantages of direct to home (DTH) satellite broadcasting that did not require costly cable networks and the merged company, BSkyB, has dominated the British pay-TV market ever since. By 1996, BSkyB had more than 3.6 million subscribers, triple the number of cable customers in the UK.

In response to print media's decline and the increasing influence of online journalism during the 2000s, Murdoch proclaimed his support of the micropayments model for obtaining revenue from on-line news, although this has been criticised by some.

News Corporation has subsidiaries in the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, the Channel Islands and the Virgin Islands. From 1986, News Corporation's annual tax bill averaged around seven percent of its profits.

Political activities in Britain

In Britain, in the 1980s, Murdoch formed a close alliance with Margaret Thatcher, and ''The Sun'' credited itself with helping John Major to win an unexpected election victory in the 1992 general election. In the general elections of 1997, 2001 and 2005, Murdoch's papers were either neutral or supported Labour under Tony Blair. This has led some critics to argue that Murdoch simply supports the incumbent parties (or those who seem most likely to win an upcoming election) in the hope of influencing government decisions that may affect his businesses. The Labour Party, under Blair, had moved from the Left to a more central position on many economic issues prior to 1997. Murdoch identifies himself as a libertarian, saying "What does libertarian mean? As much individual responsibility as possible, as little government as possible, as few rules as possible. But I'm not saying it should be taken to the absolute limit."

In a speech delivered in New York, Rupert Murdoch said that the British Prime Minister Tony Blair described the BBC coverage of the Hurricane Katrina disaster as being full of hatred of America.

In 1998, Rupert Murdoch failed in his attempt to buy the football club Manchester United F.C. with an offer of £625 million. It was the largest amount ever offered for a sports club. It was blocked by the United Kingdom's Competition Commission, which stated that the acquisition would have "hurt competition in the broadcast industry and the quality of British football".

On 28 June 2006 the BBC reported that Murdoch and News Corporation were flirting with the idea of backing Conservative leader David Cameron at the next General Election. In a later interview in July 2006, when he was asked what he thought of the Conservative leader, Murdoch replied "Not much". In a 2009 blog, it was suggested that in the aftermath of the News of the World phone hacking scandal which is still ongoing in 2011 and might yet have Transatlantic implications Murdoch and News Corporation might have decided to back Cameron. Despite this, there had already been a convergence of interests between the two men over the muting of Britain's communications regulator Ofcom.

In 2006, Britain's ''Independent'' newspaper reported that Murdoch would offer Tony Blair a senior role in his global media company News Corporation when the prime minister stood down from office.

He is accused by former Solidarity MSP Tommy Sheridan of having a personal vendetta against him and of conspiring with MI5 to produce a video of him confessing to having affairs – allegations over which Sheridan had previously sued News International and won. On being arrested for perjury following the case, Sheridan claimed that the charges were "orchestrated and influenced by the powerful reach of the Murdoch empire".

In August 2008 British Conservative leader and future Prime Minister David Cameron accepted free flights to hold private talks and attend private parties with Murdoch on his yacht, the ''Rosehearty''. Cameron has declared in the Commons register of interests he accepted a private plane provided by Murdoch's son-in-law, public relations guru Matthew Freud; Cameron has not revealed his talks with Murdoch. The gift of travel in Freud's Gulfstream IV private jet was valued at around £30,000. Other guests attending the "social events" included the then EU trade commissioner Lord Mandelson, the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and co-chairman of NBC Universal Ben Silverman. The Conservatives have not disclosed what was discussed.

In July 2011 it emerged that Cameron met key executives of Murdoch's News Corporation 26 times during the 14 months that Cameron had served as Prime Minister. It was also reported that Murdoch had given Cameron a personal guarantee that there would be no risk attached to hiring Andy Coulson, the former editor of ''News of the World'', as the Conservative Party's communication director in 2007. This was in spite of Coulson having resigned as editor over phone hacking by a reporter. Cameron chose to take Murdoch's advice, despite warnings from Nick Clegg, Lord Ashdown and ''The Guardian''. Coulson resigned his post in 2011 and was later arrested and questioned on allegations of further criminal activity at The ''News of the World'', specifically the News International phone hacking scandal.

News International phone hacking scandal

In July 2011 Rupert Murdoch along with his son James gave testimony before a British parliamentary committee regarding phone hacking. In the U.K his media empire remains under fire as investigators continue to probe reports of other phone hacking.

On 14 July, the Culture, Media and Sport Committee of the House of Commons served a summons on Murdoch, his son James, and his former CEO Rebekah Brooks to testify before a committee on 19 July. After an initial refusal, the Murdochs confirmed they would attend after the committee issued them a summons to Parliament. The day before the committee, the website of the News Corporation publication ''The Sun'' was hacked, and a bogus story was posted on the front page claiming that Murdoch had died. Murdoch described the day of the committee "the most humble day of my life". He argued that since he ran a global business of 53,000 employees and that the ''News of the World'' was "just 1%" of this, he was not ultimately responsible for what went on at the tabloid. He added that he had not considered resigning, and that he and the other top executives had been completely unaware of the hacking.

On 15 July Rupert Murdoch attended a private meeting in London with the family of Milly Dowler, where he personally apologised for the hacking of their murdered daughter's voicemail by a company he owns. On 16 and 17 July, News International published two full-page apologies in many of Britain's national newspapers. The first apology took the form of a letter, signed by Rupert Murdoch, in which he said sorry for the "serious wrongdoing" that occurred. The second was titled "Putting right what's gone wrong", and gave more detail about the steps News International was taking to address the public's concerns. In the wake of the allegations Murdoch accepted the resignations of Rebekah Brooks, head of Murdoch's British operations, and Les Hinton, head of ''The Wall Street Journal'' who was chairman of Murdoch's British newspaper division when some of the abuses happened. They both deny any knowledge of any wrong-doing under their command.

Activities in the United States

Murdoch made his first acquisition in the United States in 1973, when he purchased the ''San Antonio Express-News''. Soon afterwards, he founded ''Star'', a supermarket tabloid, and in 1976, he purchased the ''New York Post''. On 4 September 1985, Murdoch became a naturalised citizen to satisfy the legal requirement that only US citizens were permitted to own American television stations. This resulted in Murdoch losing his Australian citizenship. Also in 1985, Murdoch purchased the 20th Century Fox movie studio.In 1986, Murdoch purchased six television stations owned by Metromedia. These stations would form the nucleus of the Fox Broadcasting Company, founded on 9 October 1986, which would go on to have great success with programmes such as ''The Simpsons'' and ''The X-Files''. In 1987 in Australia, he bought The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd, the company that his father had once managed. By 1990 News Corporation had built up debts of $7 billion (much from Sky TV in the UK). forcing Murdoch to sell many of the American magazine interests he had acquired in the mid-1980s. In 1993 took exclusive of the National Football League (NFL) from CBS and increased programming to seven days a week. In 1995, Murdoch's Fox Network became the object of scrutiny from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), when it was alleged that News Ltd.'s Australian base made Murdoch's ownership of Fox illegal. However, the FCC ruled in Murdoch's favour, stating that his ownership of Fox was in the best interests of the public. That same year, Murdoch announced a deal with MCI Communications to develop a major news website and magazine, ''The Weekly Standard''. Also that year, News Corporation launched the Foxtel pay television network in Australia in partnership with Telstra. In 1996, Murdoch decided to enter the cable news market with the Fox News Channel, a 24-hour cable news station. Ratings studies released in 2009 showed that the network was responsible for nine of the top ten programs in the "Cable News" category at that time. Rupert Murdoch and Ted Turner (founder and former owner of CNN) are long-standing rivals. In late 2003, Murdoch acquired a 34 percent stake in Hughes Electronics, the operator of the largest American satellite TV system, DirecTV, from General Motors for $6 billion (USD). His Fox movie studio would go on to have global hits with ''Titanic'' and ''Avatar''.

In 2004, Murdoch announced that he was moving News Corporation headquarters from Adelaide, Australia to the United States. Choosing a US domicile was designed to ensure that American fund managers could purchase shares in the company, since many were deciding not to buy shares in non-US companies. Some analysts believed that News Corporation's Australian domicile was leading to the company being undervalued compared with its peers.

On 20 July 2005, News Corporation bought Intermix Media Inc., which held Myspace, Imagine Games Network and other social networking-themed websites, for $580 million USD, making Murdoch a major in online media concerns. In June 2011, it sold off Myspace for US$35 million. On 11 September 2005, News Corporation announced that it would buy IGN Entertainment for $650 million (USD).

In May 2007, Murdoch made a $5 billion offer to purchase Dow Jones. At the time, the Bancroft family, who had owned the Dow Jones for 105 years and controlled 64% of the shares at the time, firmly declined the offer, opposing Murdoch's much-used strategy of slashing employee numbers and gutting existing systems. Later, the Bancroft family confirmed a willingness to consider a sale. Besides Murdoch, the Associated Press reported that supermarket magnate Ron Burkle and Internet entrepreneur Brad Greenspan were among the other interested parties. In 2007, Murdoch had acquired Dow Jones, an acquisition which gave Murdoch such publications as ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''Barron's Magazine'', the ''Far Eastern Economic Review'' (based in Hong Kong) and ''SmartMoney''.

Support for American politicians and political positions

McNight (2010) identifies four characteristics of his media operations: free market ideology; unified positions on matters of public policy; global editorial meetings; and opposition to a perceived liberal bias in other public media.

On 8 May 2006, the ''Financial Times'' reported that Murdoch would be hosting a fund-raiser for Senator Hillary Clinton's (D-New York) Senate re-election campaign. In a 2008 interview with Walt Mossberg, Murdoch was asked whether he had "anything to do with the ''New York Post'''s endorsement of Barack Obama in the democratic primaries." Without hesitating, Murdoch replied, "Yeah. He is a rock star. It's fantastic. I love what he is saying about education. I don't think he will win Florida... but he will win in Ohio and the election. I am anxious to meet him. I want to see if he will walk the walk." Murdoch is a strong supporter of Israel and its domestic policies.

In 2010 News Corporation gave $1 million to the Republican Governors Association and $1 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Murdoch also served on the board of directors of the libertarian Cato Institute.

Italy

Murdoch owns controlling interest in ''Sky Italia'', a satellite television provider in Italy. Murdoch's business interest in Italy have been a source contention since they began.ref Name="BW"/> In 2010 Murdoch won a media dispute with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. A judge ruled the Italian Prime Minister's media arm Mediaset prevented News Corporation's Italian unit, Sky Italia, from buying advertisements on its television networks.

Expansion in Asia

In 1993, Murdoch acquired Star TV, a Hong Kong company founded by Richard Li for $1 billion (Souchou, 2000:28), and subsequently set up offices for it throughout Asia. The deal enables News International to broadcast from Hong Kong to India, China, Japan and over thirty other countries in Asia, becoming one of the biggest satellite TV networks in the east.However, the deal did not work out as Murdoch had planned, because the Chinese government placed restrictions on it that prevented it from reaching most of China.

Family

Marriages

In 1956 Murdoch married Patricia Booker, a former shop assistant and flight attendant from Melbourne and they had their first child, Prudence, in 1958. Rupert and Patricia Murdoch divorced in 1967. In 1967 Murdoch married Anna Torv, a Scottish-born cadet journalist working for his Sydney newspaper ''The Daily Telegraph'' (not to be mistaken for the actress Anna Torv of ''Fringe'' who is the elder Torv's niece). During his marriage to Torv, a Roman Catholic, Murdoch was awarded the KSG, a papal honour. Torv and Murdoch had three children: Elisabeth Murdoch (born in Sydney, Australia on 22 August 1968), Lachlan Murdoch (born in London, UK on 8 September 1971), and James Murdoch, (born in London on 13 December 1972). Murdoch's companies published two novels by his then wife: ''Family Business'' (1988) and ''Coming to Terms'' (1991), both widely regarded as vanity publications. They divorced in June 1999. Anna Murdoch received a settlement of US$ 1.2 billion in assets.

On 25 June 1999, 17 days after divorcing his second wife, Murdoch, then aged 68, married Chinese-born Deng Wendi (Wendi Deng). She was 30, a recent Yale School of Management graduate, and a newly appointed vice-president of his STAR TV. Murdoch has two children with her.

Murdoch's children and their business interests

Murdoch has six children. His eldest child Prudence MacLeod was appointed, on 28 January 2011, to the board of Times Newspapers Ltd, part of News International, which publishes ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times''. Murdoch's eldest son Lachlan, formerly the deputy chief operating officer at the News Corporation and the publisher of the ''New York Post'', was Murdoch's heir apparent before resigning from his executive posts at the global media company at the end of July 2005. Lachlan's departure left James Murdoch chief executive of the satellite television service British Sky Broadcasting since November 2003, as the only Murdoch son still directly involved with the company's operations, though Lachlan has agreed to remain on the News Corporation's board.

After graduating from Vassar College and marrying classmate Elkin Kwesi Pianim (the son of Ghanaian financial and political mogul Kwame Pianim) in 1993, Murdoch's daughter Elisabeth, along with her husband, purchased a pair of NBC-affiliate television stations in California, KSBW and KSBY, with a $35 million loan provided by her father. By quickly re-organising and re-selling them at a $12 million profit in 1995, Elisabeth emerged as an unexpected rival to her brothers for the eventual leadership of the publishing dynasty's empire. But after divorcing her first husband in 1998 and quarrelling publicly with her assigned mentor Sam Chisholm at BSkyB, she struck out on her own as a television and film producer in London. She has since enjoyed independent success, in conjunction with her second husband, Matthew Freud, the great-grandson of Sigmund Freud (the founder of psychoanalysis) whom she met in 1997 and married in 2001.

It is not known how long Murdoch will remain as News Corporation's CEO. For a while the American cable television entrepreneur John Malone was the second-largest voting shareholder in News Corporation after Murdoch himself, potentially undermining the family's control. In 2007, the company announced that it would sell certain assets and give cash to Malone's company in exchange for its stock. In 2007, the company issued Murdoch's older children voting stock.

Rupert Murdoch has two children with Wendi Deng: Grace (b. New York, 19 November 2001) and Chloe (b. New York, 17 July 2003). There is reported to be tension between Murdoch and his oldest children over the terms of a trust holding the family's 28.5 percent stake in News Corporation, estimated in 2005 to be worth about $6.1 billion. Under the trust, his children by Wendi Deng share in the proceeds of the stock but have no voting privileges or control of the stock. Voting rights in the stock are divided 50/50 between Murdoch on the one side and his children of his first two marriages. Murdoch's voting privileges are not transferable but will expire upon his death and the stock will then be controlled solely by his children from the prior marriages, although their half-siblings will continue to derive their share of income from it. It is Murdoch's stated desire to have his children by Deng given a measure of control over the stock proportional to their financial interest in it (which would mean, if Murdoch dies while at least one of the children is a minor, that Deng would exercise that control). It does not appear that he has any strong legal grounds to contest the present arrangement, and both ex-wife Anna and their three children are said to be strongly resistant to any such change.

Portrayal on television, in film, books and music

Rupert Murdoch and rival newspaper and publishing magnate Robert Maxwell are thinly fictionalised as "Keith Townsend" and "Richard Armstrong" in ''The Fourth Estate'' by British novelist and former MP Jeffrey Archer.

Rupert Murdoch has been portrayed by Barry Humphries in the 1991 mini-series ''Selling Hitler'', Hugh Laurie in a parody of ''It's a Wonderful Life'' in the television show ''A Bit of Fry & Laurie'', Ben Mendelsohn in the film ''Black and White'', Paul Elder in ''The Late Shift'' and by himself on ''The Simpsons'' first in "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday" and most recently in "Judge Me Tender".

It has been speculated that the character of Elliot Carver, the global media magnate and main villain in the 1997 James Bond movie ''Tomorrow Never Dies'', is based on Rupert Murdoch. The writer of the film, Bruce Feirstein, has stated that Carver was actually inspired by British press magnate Robert Maxwell, who was one of Murdoch's rivals. Since both Rupert Murdoch and Robert Maxwell had the same initials they were often confused by the public. This confusion was exploited by the writers of the British situation comedy 'Drop the Dead Donkey' which was set in a TV newsroom who chose to name the fictional proprietor Sir Roysten Merchant (initials RM). The writers state on their DVD commentares that it was "fortunate" for them that the two men shared the same initials.

In the 1997 film ''Fierce Creatures'', the head of Octopus Inc. Rod McCain (initials R.M.) character is likely modeled after Rupert Murdoch.

In 1999, the Ted Turner owned TBS aired an original sitcom, ''The Chimp Channel''. This featured an all-simian cast and the role of an Australian TV veteran named Harry Waller. The character is described as "a self-made gazillionaire with business interests in all sorts of fields. He owns newspapers, hotel chains, sports franchises and genetic technologies, as well as everyone's favorite cable TV channel, The Chimp Channel." Waller is thought to be a parody of Murdoch, a long-time rival of Turner's.

In 2004, the movie ''Outfoxed'' included many interviews accusing Fox News of pressuring reporters to report only one side of news stories, in order to influence viewers' political opinions.

Remuneration and wealth

According to the 2011 list of Forbes richest Americans, Murdoch is the 38th richest person in the US and the 117th-richest person in the world, with a net worth of $7.6 billion.

See also

List of assets owned by News Corporation

Notes

References

Dover, Bruce. ''Rupert's Adventures in China: How Murdoch Lost A Fortune And Found A Wife'' (Mainstream Publishing).

Ellison, Sarah. ''War at the Wall Street Journal: Inside the Struggle To Control an American Business Empire'', Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010. ISBN 9780547152431 (Also published as: ''War at The Wall Street Journal: How Rupert Murdoch Bought an American Icon'', Melbourne, Text Publishing, 2010.)

Evans, Harold. ''Good Times, Bad Times'', London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1983

McKnight, David. "Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation: A Media Institution with A Mission," ''Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television,'' Sept 2010, Vol. 30 Issue 3, pp 303–316

External links

Profile at ''Forbes''

Murdoch, Rupert (1931–) resources from Trove at the National Library of Australia

Bill Moyers on Rupert Murdoch, 29 June 2007

Arsenault, A & Castells, M. (2008) Rupert Murdoch and the Global Business of Media Politics. International Sociology. 23(4)

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Gives Big To GOP – audio report by ''NPR''

Review of Bruce Page's "The Murdoch Archipelago", by Godfrey Hodgson. ''New Statesman''

Category:Living people Category:1931 births

Category:Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford Category:American businesspeople Category:American billionaires Category:American publishers (people) Category:American mass media owners Category:American people of Australian descent Category:Australian billionaires Category:Australian businesspeople Category:Australian emigrants to the United States Category:Australian mass media owners Category:Australian people of Scottish descent Category:Businesspeople from Melbourne Category:Companions of the Order of Australia Category:Critics of the European Union Category:Fox Broadcasting Company executives Category:Los Angeles Dodgers owners Category:Major League Baseball owners Category:Major League Baseball executives Category:Murdoch family Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:New York Post people Category:News Corporation people Category:News International phone hacking scandal Category:Newspaper publishers (people) Category:People educated at Geelong Grammar School Category:People from Adelaide

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:''For the rugby league footballer of the same name, see Ken Gill (rugby league)''

Ken Gill (30 August 1927 - 23 May 2009) was a British trade unionist leader. He was the General Secretary of the Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Section (TASS), from 1974 to 1988, when it merged with ASTMS to form the Manufacturing, Science and Finance Union (MSF). He was General Secretary of the MSF, 1988 - 1992, initially jointly with Clive Jenkins. A committed Communist, he was elected to the TUC General Council in 1974, and was a prominent figure in the militant industrial relations of the 1970s. From 1981 to 1987 he was a member of the Commission for Racial Equality.

Background

Ken Gill was born in Melksham, Wiltshire, in 1927. Gill was politicised when young, having experienced poverty in his childhood during the Great Depression. He attended a grammar school and was offered officer training during the Second World War, but refused this owing to a political opposition to the officer class. In 1943, aged 15, he became an apprentice draughtsman. During the war his family took in a lodger, a cobbler and communist who convinced the young Gill of the cause of socialism. In 1945 he was a prominent campaigner for the local Labour candidate, who was elected as the first local Labour MP.

In 1949, at the end of his apprenticeship, he moved to London. As a young communist at the height of the Cold War, he travelled to East Germany for the 1951 World Youth Festival, and was briefly arrested while journeying there by the US military police. By his early thirties Gill had become a director of a successful small engineering firm.

Trade union career

In 1962 Gill stood for office in the Draughtsmen’s and Allied Technicians Association (DATA), being elected a regional official. The militancy of his Merseyside and Northern Ireland region saw Gill leading workers in a series of industrial battles over pay and conditions. As a result of his success in this, he was elected as deputy general secretary of the union in 1968, bringing him back to London. ''"As former colleagues attest, Ken was widely respected as a leader, winning people by persuasion rather than using his authority."'' DATA's successor, the Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Section (TASS), became part of the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers (AUEW) in 1971, although it remained quasi-autonomous. During the merger talks MI5 broke into Gill's South London home in order to bug discussions going on there.

Gill became the General Secretary of TASS in 1974, and that same year was the third communist to be elected on to the TUC General Council, with over 7 million votes. With the support of other left-wingers on the Council he helped lead a militant broad left grouping, which played a key role in the ideological and economic battles of the time. He was a leading member of the 'awkward squad' of trade union leaders which made the industrial relations of the nineteen seventies so difficult for successive governments, not least by consistently opposing an enforced incomes policy. He was a leading figure in union opposition to Barbara Castle's contentious 1969 bill on industrial relations, ''In Place of Strife''.

From the mid-1970s Gill used his position on the TUC Council to push for more radical policies in support of equal opportunities. In 1976 he "famously told the TUC Woman’s Conference ... that Britain was still a 'socially backward' country," since despite the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act women would still need a 50 per cent pay increase to achieve parity with men. In 1982 he warned against racial prejudice within trade unions, saying that black workers would form their own trade unions if prejudice prevented them from being elected to union posts. Gill was also an internationalist, pushing within the TUC for more progressive positions internationally. Gill and his union were among the earliest active supporters of the fight against South Africa's apartheid. On Gill's initiative, the union guaranteed the deposit for the 1988 stadium concert that celebrated Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday. When Mandela later visited the UK after his release from Robben Island, he chose the union's conference hall to meet and thank African National Congress exiles and activists.

In 1984 Gill became chairman of the People's Press Printing Society, the cooperative which publishes ''The Morning Star''. Gill, along with a group of so-called "Tankie" members, was later expelled from the Communist Party of Great Britain when the paper's editor refused to follow the new Eurocommunist party line. In 1985/86 Gill became the only communist ever to become President of the Trades Union Congress, although by then, following the defeat of the 1984 miners' strike, militancy was in retreat.

TASS demerged from the AUEW in 1985, and in 1988 merged with ASTMS to form the Manufacturing, Science and Finance Union (MSF), then Britain's fifth-largest union, with 600,000 members. Gill was General Secretary of the MSF, 1988 - 1992, initially jointly with Clive Jenkins. Gill retired as a full-time trade union official in 1992. ''"Despite being among the most prominent communists in the country, Gill always saw himself first of all as a trade unionist."'' In 1993 he was voted the "Trade Unionists’ Trade Unionist" in a survey carried out by ''The Observer'' newspaper. "Ken never fitted the cliché image of a communist. While he could be forceful and committed, he was never dogmatic or unnecessarily aggressive." He believed that the Labour Party was central to radical social change.

Retirement

After his retirement, Gill continued campaigning, including against the 2003 Iraq war. He also played a key role in the 1993 founding of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign in the UK, becoming its first chair, only stepping down in 2008.

Gill was also known for his caricatures of fellow trade unionists, and often made on scraps of paper during meetings and conferences. An exhibition of his work was held at Congress House in 2007, and a book of his caricatures was published in April 2009.

Books

Ken Gill (Author), John Green and Michal Boncza (Editors), 2009 - ''Hung, Drawn and Quartered'', Artery Publications, ISBN 978-0-9558228-2-7. The book is a selection of Gill's caricatures.

The Ken Gill Memorial Fund

A non-charitable trust was established in 2010 by Ken's family and close friends to commemorate Ken's life and to continue his life's work. Among its key objectives are supporting the Morning Star newspaper, supporting the trade union movement and workers' rights through co-operation with the Institute of Employment Rights and to support solidarity with Cuba, working alongside the Cuba Solidarity Campaign. Trustees include Rodney Bickerstaffe, former general secretary of Unison, the UK's largest public services union. More information about the Fund and Ken's life is available at www.kengillmemorial.org

References

External links

The Ken Gill Memorial Fund

Category:1927 births Category:2009 deaths Category:British caricaturists Category:British trade unionists Category:Communist Party of Great Britain members Category:Communist Party of Britain members Category:Leaders of British trade unions Category:People from Wiltshire Category:British communists Category:Members of the General Council of the TUC

Yōji Yamamoto (山本 耀司, ''Yamamoto Yōji'', born 1943), is an internationally known Japanese fashion designer based in Tokyo and Paris.

Coordinates	23°33′″N46°38′″N
Name	Yohji Yamamoto
Birth date	3 October 1943
Birth place	Tokyo, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Education	Law Degree - Keio University: Fashion Design - Bunka Fashion College
Label name	Yohji Yamamoto, Y's
Occupation	Fashion designer }}

Born in Tokyo, Yamamoto graduated from Keio University with a degree in law in 1966. His further studies in fashion design at Bunka Fashion College led to a degree in 1969.

Yamamoto became an influential fashion designer after making his Paris debut in 1981. His commercially successful main lines, Yohji Yamamoto (women/men) and Y's, are especially popular in Tokyo. These two lines are also available at his flagship stores in New York, Paris, and Antwerp, and at high-end department stores worldwide. Yohji Yamamoto Inc. reported in 2007 that the sales of Yamamoto's two main lines average above $100 million annually.

Yamamoto is known for an avant-garde spirit in his clothing, frequently creating designs far removed from current trends. His signature oversized silhouettes in black often feature drapery in varying textures.

Yamamoto's work has also become familiar to consumers through his collaborations with other fashion brands, including Adidas (Y-3), Hermès, Mikimoto and Mandarina Duck; and with artists of different genres, such as Sir Elton John, Placebo, Takeshi Kitano, Pina Bausch and Heiner Müller.

In October 2009 the company bearing his name filed for bankruptcy protection in Tokyo District Court.

The brand’s aggressive spending – including expansion into European and American markets – are believed to have played a part in pushing the brand into debts of more than 65 million US dollars. Integral Corp was identified as the Japanese company who will finance the restructuring of Yohji Yamamoto Inc. as the brand works towards straightening out its problems and resolving debt issues.

Family life

Yamamoto's daughter, Limi Feu, has followed in his footsteps. She debuted as a fashion designer at the Tokyo Fashion Week in 2000, showed in Tokyo from 2000 to 2007, and debuted to critical acclaim in Paris in 2007.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Yamamoto was involved in a relationship with fellow Japanese avant-garde fashion designer Rei Kawakubo of Commes des Garcons fame.

Fashion fellowship

In 2008, the Yohji Yamamoto Fund for Peace (YYFP) was established in conjunction with the China Friendship Foundation for Peace and Development (CFFPD). to foster development of China's fashion industry and to help heal the long-standing enmity between China and Japan. Each year, an emerging Chinese designer will be awarded with a two-year scholarship to a fashion college in Japan or Europe, and a male or female Chinese fashion model will be selected to make a runway debut during the Paris prêt-à-porter season.

Yamamoto has been quoted as saying: "they must have so many angry young people. Being a fashion designer or an artist, you have to be angry." Of the fashion show he staged in Beijing in spring 2008 to launch this initiative, Yamamoto said, "It's not political. I am going to open a store here, then Chinese people will come and shop there, and then they are happy. The real art is making people happy, but also asking questions about society."

Career

1972 Y's joint stock corporation founded.

1977 Tokyo collection debut.

1981 Pret a porter collection debut in Paris. Yohji Yamamoto line started at the same time.

1984 Yohji Yamamoto joint stock corporation founded.

1996 Designed along side Red or Dead founders Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway MBE

1995 Designs costumes for the Heiner Müller-directed/Daniel Barenboim-conducted production of Wagner's complex opera, Tristan & Isolde.

2002 Haute couture collection presented in Paris. Relationship formed with exclusive Parisian boutiques.

2003 Opening of the Y's line flagship store in Roppongi Hills.

2003 Y-3 line and collection debut.

2003 Designs costumes for Elton John's The Red Piano show in Las Vegas.

Principal lines

Yohji Yamamoto

Yohji Yamamoto POUR HOMME

Yohji Yamamoto COSTUME D'HOMME

COMING SOON by Yohji Yamamoto

Collaboration lines

Y-3 (Sportswear - collaboration with Adidas)

Y's for living

Y'saccs

Projects

Yohji Yamamoto was invited to curate the second issue of A MAGAZINE curated by in 2005, following Martin Margiela.

Filmography

''Notebook on Cities and Clothes'' (1989) by Wim Wenders

''Dolls'' (2002) by Kitano Takeshi

"Brother"(2000) by Kitano Takeshi

References

"Yoji Yamamoto," ''Women's Wear Daily.''

Much of the content of this article comes from the equivalent Japanese-language Wikipedia article (retrieved December 1, 2005).

External links

Kaiserlicher Authorised Y-3 Dealer Germany

Official page

Category:Japanese fashion designers Category:Clothing brands of Japan Category:1943 births Category:Living people Category:High fashion brands

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