The Right Honourable The Lord Black of Crossharbour PC OC KCSG
Picture of Lord Black in 2005.
Born	Conrad Moffat Black (1944-08-25) August 25, 1944 (age 67) Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Nationality	Canadian (1944–2001) British (1999–present)
Education	Carleton University, (B.A.) Université Laval (LL.L.) McGill University (M.A.)
Occupation	former newspaper publisher, author, columnist, investor
Home town	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Net worth	$80 million (2011) [1]
Religion	Catholic
Spouse	Joanna Hishon (1978–1992) Barbara Amiel, Lady Black (1992–present)
Children	2 sons, 1 daughter
Parents	George Montegu Black II, Jean Elizabeth Riley

Conrad Moffat Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour, PC, OC, KCSG (born August 25, 1944) is a Canadian-born member of the British House of Lords, and a historian, columnist and publisher, who was for a time the third largest newspaper magnate in the world.^[2] Lord Black controlled Hollinger International, Inc. Through affiliates, the company published major newspapers including The Daily Telegraph (UK), Chicago Sun Times (U.S.), Jerusalem Post (Israel), National Post (Canada), and hundreds of community newspapers in North America.

Black is also an author and historian, having written two memoirs (A Life in Progress and A Matter of Principle) and biographies of Maurice Duplessis, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Richard Nixon. He writes a regular column for Canada’s National Post and contributes to The American Spectator, National Review Online, The Huffington Post and The Catholic Herald.

Beginning in 2005, Black was the subject of a highly publicized prosecution in the United States. Black has maintained his innocence since the beginning of the legal saga.^[3][4] Having initially faced 17 charges of misconduct and of defrauding the company he led, Hollinger International, of $60 million, he was convicted of three counts of fraud and one count of obstruction of justice in a U.S. court in 2007^[5] and sentenced to six and a half years' imprisonment.^[6] On July 19, 2010, Black was granted bail following a unanimous judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States in which Black succeeded in having the scope of the honest services fraud statute narrowed. Subsequent to that decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit overturned two of the three remaining mail fraud counts against Black in October 2010.^[7] The sole remaining mail fraud count was in the amount of $600,000,^[8] of which Black’s share was $285,000.^[9] On June 24, 2011 he was resentenced on the one remaining count of mail fraud and on the one count of obstruction of justice to a prison term of 42 months and a fine of US$125,000.^[10] As the 29 months Black had already served were included in this sentence, he returned to prison on September 6, 2011,^[11] to serve his remaining term of thirteen months.^[12] Black was released on May 4, 2012.^[13] As he renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2001, Black was granted a one-year temporary resident permit to re-enter Canada upon his release from prison. The permit is valid until May 2013.^[14][15]

Early life and family[link]

Black was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to a wealthy family originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba. His father, George Montegu Black, Jr., C.A., was the president of Canadian Breweries Limited, an international brewing conglomerate that had earlier absorbed Winnipeg Breweries (founded by George Black Sr.). Conrad Black's mother was the former Jean Elizabeth Riley, a daughter of Conrad Stephenson Riley, whose father founded the Great-West Life Assurance Company, and a great-granddaughter of an early co-owner of the Daily Telegraph.

Biographer George Toombs said of Black's motivations: "he was born into a very large family of athletic, handsome people. He wasn't particularly athletic or handsome like they were, so he developed a different skill – wordplay, which he practised a lot with his father."^[16] Black has written that his father was “cultured [and] humorous” and that his mother was a “natural, convivial, and altogether virtuous person.”^[17] Of his older brother George Montegu Black III (Monte), Black has written that he was “one of the greatest natural athletes I have known,” and that though “generally more sociable than I was, he was never a cad or even inconstant, or ever an ungenerous friend or less than a gentleman.”^[18]

Education[link]

Black was first educated at Upper Canada College (UCC), during which time, at age eight, he invested his life savings of $60 in one share of General Motors.^[19] Six years later, according to Tom Bower's biography Dancing on the Edge,^[20] he was expelled from UCC for selling stolen exam papers. He then attended Trinity College School where he lasted less than a year, being expelled for insubordinate behaviour. Black eventually graduated from a small, now defunct, private school in Toronto called Thornton Hall, continuing on to post-secondary education at Carleton University (History, 1965). For a time, he attended Toronto's Osgoode Hall Law School of York University; however, his studies ended after he failed his first year exams.^[20] He completed a law degree at Université Laval (Law, 1970), and in 1973 completed a Master of Arts degree in history at McGill University.^[21] Black's thesis, later published as a biography, was on Quebec premier Maurice Duplessis. Black had been granted access to Duplessis’s papers, housed in Duplessis’s former residence in Trois-Rivières,^[22] which included “figures from the famous Union Nationale Caisse Electorale (the party war chest), a copy of the leader of the Opposition’s tax returns, [and] gossip from bishops,”^[17] as well as “historically significant letters from Cardinal Jean-Marie-Rodrigue Villeneuve side-by-side with hand-written, ungrammatical requests for jobs with the Quebec Liquor Board, unpaid bills, the returns of his ministers who were cheating on their taxes, a number of scribbled notes for Assembly speeches, tidbits of political espionage, compromising photographs, [and] a ledger listing the political contributions of every tavern-keeper in the province.”^[22] Black subsequently had the principal items from the papers copied and microfilmed, and donated copies to McGill, York, and Windsor universities.^[17]

Marriages[link]

Black's first marriage was in 1978 to Joanna Hishon of Montreal, who worked as a secretary in his brother Montegu's brokerage office. The couple had two sons and a daughter.^[23] The couple separated in 1991. Their divorce was finalized in 1992; the same year Black married Watford-born journalist Barbara Amiel. Black flattered Amiel, describing her variously as "beautiful, brilliant, ideologically a robust spirit" and "chic, humorous and preternaturally sexy." Courtroom evidence revealed that the couple exchanged over 11,000 emails.^[16] In a February, 2011, public Valentine greeting, Black wrote:

“I have been persecuted and Barbara was under no obligation to share fully in the life-enhancing and undoubtedly character-building experience of sharing that fate with me completely. But she has, and no one can know, and it is beyond my power adequately to express here, what her constancy has meant to me. For more than four years before I was sent to prison, she toiled with me against the heavy odds generated by the legal and media onslaught. She endured an avalanche of abuse directed at her (although she wasn’t accused of anything) as extravagant, flakey, apt to bolt, domineering, and what Kafka called 'nameless crimes.' For the next 29 months, she led a lonely life in Florida, in a climate that aggravated her medical problems. And once or twice every week, she got up at 3 a.m. to drive over four hours to see me.”^[24]

Religion[link]

"My family," Black wrote in 2009, "was divided between atheism and agnosticism, and I followed rather unthinkingly and inactively in those paths into my twenties." By his early thirties, however, he "no longer had any confidence in the non-existence of God." Thereafter, he "approached Rome at a snail's pace," and began to study the writings of Roman Catholic thinkers such as St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Cardinal Newman, and Jacques Maritain.^[25] Having accepted the possibility of miracles and thus of the Resurrection of Christ, Black was received into the Catholic Church on June 18, 1986 by Cardinal Gerald Emmett Carter, Archbishop of Toronto.^[17] Black would develop a close friendship with Carter and rely on him as a spiritual advisor; on Carter’s death, Black wrote: “In the 25 years I knew him, his judgment and personality were always sober but never solemn; and never, not at his most beleaguered and not on the verge of death, did he show a trace of despair. He was intellectual but practical, spiritual but not sanctimonious or utopian, proud but never arrogant. He must have had faults, but I never detected any. He was a great man, yet the salt of the earth.”^[26]

Black has written that his faith helped him endure his imprisonment in the United States.^[27] Black is also a major shareholder in The Catholic Herald,^[27] and was the vice-president of Paul-Émile Cardinal Léger’s charity for a number of years.^[28]

Career[link]

Black became involved in a number of businesses, mainly publishing newspapers, and briefly in mining. In 1966, Black bought his first newspaper, the Eastern Townships Advertiser in Quebec. Following the foundation, as an investment vehicle, of the Ravelston Corporation by the Black family in 1969, Black, together with friends David Radler and Peter G. White, purchased and operated the Sherbrooke Record, the small English language daily in Sherbrooke, Quebec. In 1971, the three formed Sterling Newspapers Limited, a holding company that would acquire several other small Canadian regional newspapers.

Corporate ownership through holding companies[link]

George Black died in June 1976, leaving Conrad Black and his older brother, Montegu, a 22.4% stake in Ravelston Corporation, which by then owned 61% voting control of Argus Corporation, an influential holding company in Canada. Argus controlled large stakes in 7 major Canadian corporations, Labrador Mining, Noranda Mines, Hollinger Mines, Standard Broadcasting, Dominion Stores, Domtar and Massey-Ferguson.^[29]

In 1977, Black became a director of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.^[30]

Through his father's holdings in Ravelston, Black gained early association with two of Canada's most prominent businessmen: Bud McDougald and E. P. Taylor, president and founder of Argus, respectively. Following McDougald's death in 1978, Black paid $30-million to take control of Ravelston and thereby, control of Toronto-based Argus. This arrangement resulted in accusations that Black had taken advantage of the widows of Ravelston Directors McDougald and Eric Phillips, though these accusations were never proven. Black, for his part, recorded that the widows “understood and approved every letter of every word of the agreement”.^[17] Other observers admired Black for marshalling enough investor support to win control without committing a large block of personal assets.^[29]

Some of the Argus assets were already troubled, and others did not fit Black's long-term vision. Black resigned as Chairman of Massey Ferguson company in 1979, after which Argus donated its shares to the employee's pension funds (both salaried and union).^[31] Hollinger Mines was then turned into a holding company that initially focused on resource businesses.^[29]

In 1981 Norcen Energy, one of his companies, acquired a minority position in Ohio-based Hanna Mining Co. A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission stated that Norcen took "an investment position" in Hanna. However, the filing did not disclose that Norcen's board planned to seek majority control. Black subsequently was charged by the SEC with filing misleading public statements. These charges were later withdrawn.

Dominion pension dispute[link]

In 1984, Black withdrew over $56 million from the Dominion workers' pension plan surplus without consulting plan members. The firm said it considered the surplus the rightful property of the employer (Dominion Stores Ltd.). The Dominion Union complained, a public outcry ensued, and the case went to court. The Supreme Court of Ontario ruled against the company, and ordered the company to return the money to the pension fund, claiming that though the most recent language in the plan suggested the employer had ownership of the surplus, the original intention was to keep the surplus in the plan to increase members' benefits.^[32] Eventually, the pension dispute was settled in equal shares between the shareholders and the plan members.^[17]

Industrial holdings shifted to publishing[link]

Over time, Black focused formerly diverse activities of his companies on newspaper publishing. Argus Corporation, once Canada's most important conglomerate, divested itself of interests in manufacturing, mining, retailing, banking and broadcasting. Canadian writer John Ralston Saul argued in 2008, "Lord Black was never a real "capitalist" because he never created wealth, only dismantled wealth. His career has been largely about stripping corporations. Destroying them."^[33] Journalist and writer George Jonas, however, contends that Hollinger made its “investors… billions [of dollars]”.^[34]

Growth and divestment of press holdings[link]

In 1985, Andrew Knight, then editor of The Economist, asked Black to invest in the ailing Telegraph Group, and Black was able to gain control of the Group for £30 million.^[17] By this investment, Black made his first entry into British press ownership. Five years later, he bought the Jerusalem Post, and by 1990, his companies ran over 400 newspaper titles in North America, the majority of them small community papers.

Hollinger bought a 23% stake in the Southam newspaper chain in 1992^[21] and acquired the Chicago Sun Times in 1994. Hollinger International shares were listed on New York Stock Exchange in 1996, at which time the company boosted its stake in Southam to a control position.^[28] Becoming a public company trading in the U.S. has been called "a fateful move, exposing Black's empire to America's more rigorous regulatory regime and its more aggressive institutional shareholders."^[31]

Under Black, Hollinger launched the National Post in Toronto in 1998. From 1999 to 2000 Hollinger International sold several newspapers in five deals worth a total of US$679-million, a total that included millions of dollars in "non-compete agreements" for Hollinger insiders.^{[citation needed]} Later in the year, Hollinger International announced the sale of thirteen major Canadian newspapers, 126 community newspapers, internet properties and half of the National Post to CanWest Global Communications Corp. Hollinger International sold the rest of the National Post to CanWest in the summer of 2001^{[citation needed]}.

Fate of Hollinger[link]

The Hollinger group of companies was effectively dismantled as a result of the various lawsuits it faced. The costs incurred to Hollinger International through the investigation of Black and his associates climbed to over US $200 million, leading some observers, such as The Economist, to note its lack of proportion to the charges.^[35] A significant portion of the sums paid by Hollinger International went to Richard Breeden, the lead investigator, who was paid approximately $100,000 per week.^[28] Since Black was forced to resign from the board of Hollinger, many of Hollinger International’s assets have been sold at prices significantly lower than those contemplated in deals negotiated but not consummated while Black was with the company.^[36] In the early 2000s, Black had accurately anticipated the decline in profitability of print media assets and sought to divest those types of assets held by Hollinger before their value was irrevocably diminished.^[36]

Lifestyle[link]

Born to a rich family, Black acquired the family home and 7 acres (28,000 m²) of land in Toronto's exclusive Bridle Path neighbourhood after his father's death in 1976. Black and first wife Joanna Hishon maintained homes in Palm Beach, Toronto and London. After he married Barbara Amiel, he acquired a luxury Park Avenue apartment in New York. When sold in 2005, the U.S. Department of Justice seized net proceeds of $8.5 million, pending resolution of court actions.^[37] His London townhouse in the Kensington district sold in 2005 for about US$25 million.^[38] Black's Palm Beach mansion was listed for sale in 2004 at $36 million. In late April 2011 this Florida property was also sold by Black for approximately $30 million (USD).^[39]

According to biographer Tom Bower, "They flaunted their wealth."^[20] Black's critics, including former Daily Telegraph editor Charles Moore, suggested it was Black's second wife, Amiel, who pushed him towards a life of opulence, citing extravagant expenditures such as items billed to Hollinger expenses that included $2,463 (£1,272) on handbags, $2,785 in opera tickets, and $140 for Amiel's "jogging attire."^[16]

Black was ranked 238th wealthiest in Britain by the Sunday Times Rich List 2003,^[40] with an estimated wealth of £136m. He was dropped from the 2004 list.^[41]

Black is a former Steering Committee member of the Bilderberg Group.^[42]

Criminal fraud conviction and Supreme Court review[link]

Conrad Moffat Black
Charge(s)	mail fraud, obstruction of justice
Penalty	Sentenced to 6½ years imprisonment. Reduced to 42 months following appeal and resentencing.
Status	Served 29 months before being granted bail pending a Supreme Court ordered review of his case.[43] Reported to the Federal Correctional Institution, Miami on September 6, 2011[11] to serve an additional 13 months as a result of re-sentencing.[12] He was released on May 4, 2012, due to good conduct credits shortening his sentence by five months.[44]

Black was convicted in U.S. District Court in Chicago on July 13, 2007 and sentenced to serve 6.5 years in federal prison, pay Hollinger $6.1 million, in addition to a fine of $125,000.

Black was found guilty of diverting funds for personal benefit from money due Hollinger International when the company sold certain publishing assets and of other irregularities. For example, in 2000, in an arrangement that came to be known as the "Lerner Exchange," Black acquired Chicago's Lerner Newspapers and sold it to Hollinger.^[45] He also was found guilty of obstruction of justice.^[46]

The Supreme Court of the United States heard an appeal of his case on December 8, 2009^[47] and rendered a decision in June 2010. Black's application for bail was rejected by both the Supreme Court and the U.S. District Court judge who sentenced him.^[48]

On June 24, 2010, the US Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that the definition of "honest services" fraud used in the trial judge's charge to the jury in Black's case was too broad and ordered the US 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago to review three fraud convictions against Black in light of the Supreme Court's new definition. The appeals court was to review Black's case and determine whether his fraud convictions will stand or if there should be a new trial.^[49] The jailed former media baron's obstruction-of-justice conviction, for which he is serving a concurrent 6½-year sentence, remains in place.^[50] Black's lawyers filed an application for bail pending the appeals court's review.^[49] Prosecutors contested Black's bail request, arguing in court papers that Black's trial jury had proof that Black committed fraud.^[51] He was granted bail on July 19, 2010, by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and was released on a $2 million unsecured bond put up by conservative philanthropist Roger Hertog.^[52] Black was released from custody and ordered to remain on bail in the continental United States until at least August 16, when his bail hearing was to resume,^{[7][52][53][54]} and the date by which Black and the prosecution were ordered by the Court of Appeals to submit written arguments for that court's review of his case.^[55][56]

Until July 21, 2010,^[52] Black, Federal Bureau of Prisons #18330-424, was incarcerated at Federal Correctional Institution Low, Coleman, FL,^[57] a part of the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex^[58][59] Prior to being granted bail, his scheduled release date was October 30, 2013.^[57]

Following his release, coincidentally on his 18th wedding anniversary, Black wrote a column for Canada's The National Post on his time in prison. Black described America's inmates as an "ostracized, voiceless legion of the walking dead."^[60] Black was to appear once again in a Chicago court on August 16 to provide full and detailed financial information to the judge, who would then consider his request to be allowed to return to Canada while on bail.^[61] In spite of his professed desire to return to his former home in Canada, Black's legal representatives advised the court that they would not provide the requisite accounting and would thus not be interested in petitioning the court further on the matter. Although many have cited this refusal to disclose as more deception on the part of Black,^{[citation needed]} it is possible that the voluminous amounts of information that would have been required for complete disclosure could not be compiled in time or would have been used to further incriminate Black in later proceedings, a potential violation of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. He was, however, under no compulsion to make this disclosure, as he had initiated the appeal for a bail variation of his own volition. His next court appearance, where he might reapply for permission to return to Canada, was set for September 20, 2010.^[62]

On October 28, 2010, the US 7th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned two of the three remaining mail fraud counts. It left Black convicted of one count of mail fraud and one count of obstruction of justice. The court also ruled that he must be resentenced.^[63] On December 17, 2010, Black lost an appeal of his remaining convictions for fraud and obstruction of justice. The three-person panel did not provide reasons. On May 31, 2011, the Supreme Court of the United States refused to grant Black leave to appeal his two remaining convictions without any comment.^[64]

The resentencing on the two remaining counts by the original trial judge occurred on June 24, 2011.^[65] Black's lawyers recommended that he be sentenced to the 29 months he had already served while the prosecution argued for Black to complete his original 6½ year sentence. The probation officer's report recommended a sentence of between 33 and 41 months.^[66] At the hearing, Judge St. Eve resentenced Black to a reduced term of 42 months and a fine of $125,000, returning him to prison on September 6, 2011^[11] to serve the remaining 13 months of his sentence.^[12]

On June 30, 2011, Black published an article for the National Review Online that provided his scathing view of the legal case, detailing it as a miscarriage of justice and an "unaccountable and often lawless prosecution."^[67]

Seth Lipsky, in an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal that ran on June 28, 2011, called the verdict against Black "head-scratching," noting that Black was found not guilty of the most serious charges brought against him and "the jury convicted him of a count of obstruction, for obeying an eviction notice by Hollinger to remove from his former office in Toronto boxes of papers and personal effects that he hadn't been informed were under seal. Prosecutors claimed that, out of 13 boxes, a single document was relevant to the investigation. It was a copy of a non-compete agreement that Black had previously turned over to the investigators." Lipsky also raised the issue of why Black was denied a retrial by jury as to whether he had committed pecuniary fraud after the Supreme Court unanimously found that Judge St. Eve's instructions to the jury were "incorrect," which led to two of the three fraud counts ultimately being vacated. In the end, the fraud conviction was allowed to stand and the count of obstruction: "The fraud Black stood guilty of involved a gain to him of but $285,000. He has made restitution of $32 million. He has been forced to stand aside while his business empire was reduced to rubble and $250 million or so of his own equity destroyed. And he has incurred tens of millions of dollars in legal fees... even some of his critics are wondering why the prosecutors engaged in the conduct they did."^[68]

Black did not return to his former location of Coleman Federal Correctional Facility because two female guards at Coleman reported they feared for their safety if Black returned. Instead, he reported on September 6, 2011 to the Federal Correctional Institution, Miami.^[69] He was released from prison on May 4, 2012. Although he has given up his Canadian citizenship in 2001 in order to receive British peerage, he has expressed desire to live in Canada after his prison term completed.^[70] He was granted a one-year temporary resident permit to live in Canada in March 2012 when he was still serving his sentence. Critics denounced that Black received special treatment from the Canadian government but Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister, denied any political influence. ^[71] Upon his release from the prison, Black was immediately picked up by the U.S. Immigration officials and was escorted to the Miami International Airport. He arrived at Toronto on the same afternoon and returned to his home for the first time in nearly five years.^[72]

Peerage controversy and citizenship[link]

Upon the advice of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Queen Elizabeth II conferred in 2001 the dignity of a life peerage to Black with the name, style and title of Baron Black of Crossharbour, of Crossharbour in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.^[73] Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, gave the conflicting advice that a Canadian citizen should not receive a titular honour, citing the 1919 Nickle Resolution. Black at the time held both Canadian and British citizenship. As a result of the dispute, Black renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2001, remaining a citizen of the UK. In an May 2012 interview with Peter Mansbridge, Black said he will consider applying for Canadian citizenship “within a year or two” when he hoped the matter would no longer be controversial and he could “make an application like any other person who has been a temporary resident.”^[74] The decision to grant or reject his application would be at the discretion of the federal cabinet.^[75]

Order of Canada[link]

Black was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada (OC) in 1990. In September 2011, after Black returned to prison due to the failure of his appeal, Rideau Hall confirmed that Black's award was under review by the Advisory Council of the Order of Canada which has the power to recommend “the termination of a person's appointment to the Order of Canada if the person has been convicted of a criminal offence.”^[76]

Books and other publications[link]

Black has written an autobiography and three substantial biographies of controversial twentieth-century figures.

• Duplessis:^[77] Black re-worked his 1973 Master's thesis on Maurice Duplessis into a rehabilatory biographical re-examination of the controversial long-serving Quebec premier, published in 1977.

• A Life in Progress:^[78] An autobiography, published in 1993.

• Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Champion of Freedom:^[79] While Black was CEO of Hollinger International, the company spent millions of dollars purchasing collections of private papers of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt.^[80] Black subsequently completed a 1,280-page biography, in 2003.^[81]

• What Might Have Been:^[82] A 2004 essay of speculative history depicting the latter half of the 20th century as it may have unfolded had Japan not bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, edited by Andrew Roberts.

• Richard M. Nixon: A Life in Full:^[83] Continuing in the vein of Duplessis, Black's 1,152-page 2007 biography of Richard Nixon sought to rehabilitate the former U.S. President's legacy. This approach was criticized by some reviewers, who felt that it attempted to exculpate Nixon of some negative aspects of his time in office.^[84]

• Selected Columns/Articles in Newspapers and Magazines
  • Black continues to contribute regular features to the National Post, the newspaper he founded in 1998 and sold in 2001. In an article there, Black indicated that his next book will describe how his business empire was destroyed while court-protected managers enriched themselves and eradicated shareholder value. He says, "The judiciary and regulators in both countries are complicit in these events. They will have much to answer for. This is the real story, and I will publish it soon." ^[85]
  • In the November 2008 issue of Spear's magazine, Black wrote a diary piece from jail,^[86] detailing 'the putrification of the US justice system' and how 'the bloom is off my long-notorious affection for America'.
  • On March 5, 2009, Black contributed a piece to the online version of the conservative magazine National Review (NRO). Called 'Roosevelt and the Revisionists' and based on his earlier biography of Roosevelt, it argued that FDR's New Deal was intended to save capitalism, and so deserved conservative support. In her March 9 critique of this piece on NRO, author Amity Shlaes observed, "I will be co-hosting, with Dean Thomas Cooley of NYU/Stern, a Second Look conference on March 30 to permit scholars to present the multiple studies that suggest the New Deal and Great Depression are worth taking a look at from every angle. The great shame here is that Conrad would have added much to this event, and yet he cannot attend."

• A Matter of Principle:^[87] Published in 2011, Black described his indictment and the trial, the subsequent conviction, imprisonment and the appeal. Woven throughout the book, Black did not hide his contempt toward the prosecutors, and the people and media whom he perceived betrayed him and harboured bias against him. Black reserved the most indignation toward the prosecutors whom he believed mounted a campaign to destroy him. The book also discussed his views on politics, corporate governance, and the U.S. justice system and its need of reform.^[88]

  In a rebuttal to set the record straight,^[89] Black defence lawyer, Edward Greenspan said ‘Conrad’s flawed account of his own trial is a reminder of how seldom an accused person actually grasps what is going on in court’. In particular, Greenspan vigorously rebuked Black’s repeating the allegation of ‘extortion’ described in an article^[90] written by Mark Steyn in Maclean’s. Even Black himself told Greenspan in an e-mail that this allegation was unfounded and ‘I will support your version of this’.

Biographies and portrayal in popular culture[link]

• The documentary film Citizen Black, which premiered at the 2004 Montreal and Cambridge film festivals, traces Black's life and filmmaker Debbie Melnyk's attempts in 2003 to interview Black, and her eventual interview.^[91] US prosecutors subpoenaed unused footage of a 2003 shareholders meeting for use in Black's trial.^[92]
• Canadian actor Albert Schultz portrayed Black in the 2006 CTV movie Shades of Black.
• Tom Bower's biography Conrad and Lady Black: Dancing on the Edge (ISBN 0007232349) was published in 2006 by Harper Collins. It was republished in August 2007 with an additional chapter reporting on the trial and its outcomes.
• There is talk of two dramas based on his life: one from Tom Bower and Andrew Lloyd Webber and another from Alistair Beaton.^[93]
• The last authorized portrait busts of Conrad Black and Barbara Amiel were created between 2001–2002 by Canadian sculptor Dr. Elizabeth Bradford Holbrook and arranged by noted Canadian artist Christian Cardell Corbet who himself also created a portrait of Black.
• A book "Robber Baron: Lord Black of Crossharbour" was published in 2007 by ECW press and written by George Tombs. ISBN 978-1-55022-806-9

References[link]

External links[link]

Biography portal

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Conrad Black

• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Conrad Black at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Conrad Black in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Conrad Black collected news and commentary at The Guardian
• Conrad Black collected news and commentary at The Jerusalem Post
• Conrad Black collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• SEC – Breeden Report Complete 512-page copy of the Report of Investigation by the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Hollinger International Inc.*The United States vs. Conrad Black collected coverage in Macleans.ca*The United States vs. Conrad Black collected coverage in Macleans.ca
• Lord Black of Crossharbour: The Life and Times of Conrad Black, CBC.ca, documentary originally aired 24 March 2005
• "Conrad Black's apologia for Richard Nixon": a review in the TLS by Anthony Holden, August 8, 2007
• Conrad Black profile from RightWeb
• Conrad Black at IdeaCity on CITY-TV
• A Conrad Black timeline, thestar.com, May 11, 2007
• Links to Appeal Court Oral Arguments (mp3) and Opinion (pdf)
• Conrad Black's full-length jail diary
• From my cell I scent the reeking soul of US justice
• An interview with Conrad Black from Coleman Federal Correction Complex, May 2010

This article's lead section may not adequately summarize its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points. (November 2010)

Adam Boulton
Adam Boulton in March 2008
Born	(1959-02-15) 15 February 1959 (age 53) Reading, Berkshire
Education	Oxford University Johns Hopkins University
Occupation	Journalist
Notable credit(s)	Political Editor Sky News
Spouse	Anji Hunter

Thomas Adam Babbington Boulton (born 15 February 1959 in Reading, Berkshire) is political editor of the British television channel Sky News, a post he has held since being asked to establish the politics team for the launch of the channel in 1989.

Early life[link]

Boulton's father was a doctor but rather than follow him into the medical profession young Adam had an ambition to go into broadcasting. He attended Tower House Preparatory School in south-west London and Westminster School where he took A-levels in English, mathematics, physics and chemistry^[1] He then studied at the University of Oxford and Johns Hopkins University where he gained degrees in English and International Relations.^[2][3][4]

Career[link]

Before joining Sky News, Boulton worked as a journalist in the parliamentary "lobby". He was then political editor for TV-am, where his colleague was Kay Burley who later joined Sky News. It was during the 1987 general election that he was punched by Denis Healey after Anne Diamond asked Healey about his wife using private healthcare; the incident was witnessed by gossip columnist Nigel Dempster.^[5]

Boulton presents Boulton & Co from 1pm to 2pm Monday to Friday on the channel and also maintains a blog on the Sky News website. While he does not have a regular weekday show of his own, he does frequently appear during the week to report on breaking political stories. He has interviewed every British Prime Minister from Gordon Brown back to Sir Alec Douglas-Home, international stars and influential figures. On 15 June 2008 he became the first British television reporter to conduct a joint interview of U.S. President George W. Bush and his wife Laura.

He also presents PMQs, on a Wednesday evening with regular guests to discuss the performance of ministers involved in the House of Commons earlier in the day and more seriously, the legislation and ideas that they present to the house.

He has written for newspapers and magazines including The Times, Sunday Times, Guardian, Spectator, New Statesman and Independent. He has been a guest of programmes such as Newsnight, Bremner, Bird and Fortune and Have I Got News For You.

He is a winner of the Royal Television Society's supreme Judge's Award and was elected 2007 Chairman of the Parliamentary Lobby.

Boulton was based in Washington, D.C. from January 2009, covering the First 100 days of Barack Obama's Presidency of the United States for Sky News.

On 22 April 2010, during the UK General Election campaign, Boulton hosted Sky News' 'Leaders' Debate' live from Bristol, the second in a series of three televised debates between Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg produced, in turn, and on consecutive Thursdays, by ITV News, Sky News and the BBC.

On 10 May 2010, while covering events on the aftermath of the 2010 general election Boulton lost his composure with former 10 Downing Street Director of Communications, Alastair Campbell defending his impartiality in a live on-air interview after Campbell accused Boulton of political bias in favour of the Conservatives. Boulton shouted at Campbell: "Don't tell me what I think".^[6] At the time both Labour and the Conservatives were trying to broker a deal with the Liberal Democrats aimed at forming a coalition government. A similar disagreement occurred later on that evening in an exchange with Ben Bradshaw.^[7] The media regulator Ofcom received several hundred complaints about the Campbell incident from viewers.^[8] During the campaign he had been asked to calm down by Peter Mandelson when he questioned him about possible spending cuts that the Financial Times believed would have to be made following the election.^[9] He was also accused of bias for the way he questioned Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, it was claimed in contravention of the pre-established rules, during the Leader's debate hosted by Sky News. Ofcom rejected the complaints ^[10] On the 20th January 2011 Boulton once again interviewed Alastair Campbell on Sky News, ahead of Tony Blair's appearance in front of the Iraq Inquiry. Both apologised about the incident and shook hands at the end of the interview.

Personal life[link]

Boulton divorced his first wife after his affair with Tony Blair's spin doctor Anji Hunter became front page tabloid news in 2002.^[11] Both have children from their previous marriages. The couple married at St James's Church, Piccadilly on the 22 July 2006, in a wedding attended by Blair and a number of current and former ministers, including David Blunkett, Tessa Jowell and Peter Hain, as well as Mick Hucknall and BP boss Lord Browne.^[12]

Bibliography[link]

• Tony's Ten Years: Memories of the Blair Administration (2008) Simon & Schuster
• Hung Together: The 2010 Election and the Coalition Government with Joey Jones (2010) Simon & Schuster

References[link]

External links[link]

• Boulton and Co
• Adam Boulton's biography from Sky News
• Images
• Articles By Adam Boulton

v t e Sky News in the United Kingdom British Sky Broadcasting Programmes Sky News Sunrise The Live Desk Sky News Today Boulton & Co Afternoon Live Live at Five Jeff Randall Live News, Sport & Weather Sky News at Ten Sky News Tonight Sky Midnight News CBS Evening News Sky News On The Hour Sky World News Saturday Live Weekend Lunchtime Sky News at Seven Murnaghan Reporters and presenters Main Anna Botting Adam Boulton Colin Brazier Lukwesa Burak Kay Burley Stephen Dixon Lorna Dunkley Charlotte Hawkins Eamonn Holmes Sarah Hewson Gillian Joseph Mark Longhurst Dermot Murnaghan Jeff Randall Samantha Simmonds Martin Stanford Jeremy Thompson Andrew Wilson Business Dharshini David Joel Hills Sport Jacquie Beltrao Rob Curling Jon Desborough Karthi Gnanasegaram Lisa Knights Sarah-Jane Mee Nick Powell Chris Skudder Matt Teale Charlie Thomas Graeme Winch Weather Nazaneen Ghaffar Isobel Lang Denise Nurse Jo Wheeler Other Philippa Hall Anna Jones Ashish Joshi Lisa Knights Sarah-Jane Mee Paula Middlehurst Tim Marshall Gemma Morris Chloe Potter Jayne Secker Matt Smith Category

Jeremy Paxman
Paxman in September 2009
Born	Jeremy Dickson Paxman (1950-05-11) 11 May 1950 (age 62) Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK
Residence	Stonor, Oxfordshire
Nationality	British
Education	MA (St Catharine's College, Cambridge)
Alma mater	Malvern College, St. Catharine's College
Occupation	Journalist, news presenter
Employer	BBC
Salary	£1,040,000 (2006) per annum[1]
Television	Newsnight University Challenge
Spouse	Elizabeth Ann Clough (?-present)
Children	2 daughters, 1 son
Parents	Keith and Joan Paxman
Relatives	Giles Paxman (brother)

Jeremy Dickson Paxman^[2][3] (born 11 May 1950) is an English journalist, author and broadcaster. He has worked for the BBC since 1977. He is noted for a forthright and abrasive interviewing style, particularly when interrogating politicians. His regular appearances on the BBC2's Newsnight programme have been criticised as aggressive, intimidating and condescending, and also applauded as tough and incisive.^[4] He is also the question master of University Challenge, succeeding Bamber Gascoigne when the programme was revived in 1994.

Early life[link]

Paxman was born in Leeds. His mother, Joan, born 1920, was a housewife.^[5] Paxman is the eldest of four children and has two brothers, one of whom, Giles, is the British Ambassador to Spain (having previously been ambassador to Mexico), and a sister, Jenny, a producer at BBC Radio.

He was brought up in Yorkshire and Peopleton, near Pershore, Worcestershire. In 1964, he went to Malvern College^[2][6] and read English at St Catharine's College, Cambridge,^[7] where he edited the undergraduate newspaper Varsity.^[3][8][9] While at Cambridge, Paxman was briefly a member of the Labour Club.

Paxman was the subject in January 2006 of an episode of the BBC genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?.^[5] The documentary concluded him to be descended from one Roger Packsman, a 14th century politician from Suffolk who had changed his name to Paxman (man of peace, "Pax" translates from Latin as peace) to impress "the electorate." His maternal grandmother was born in Glasgow, Scotland. The programme generated much publicity prior to its transmission by displaying the usually pitiless Paxman teary-eyed on camera when informed that his impoverished great-grandmother Mary Mackay's poor relief had been revoked because she'd had a child out of wedlock.^[5][10]

Career[link]

Journalism[link]

Paxman joined the BBC's graduate trainee programme in 1972. He started in local radio, at BBC Radio Brighton. He moved to Belfast, where he reported the Troubles. He moved to London in 1977. Two years later he transferred from the Tonight programme to Panorama. After five years reporting from places such as Beirut, Uganda and Central America, he read the Six O'Clock News for two years, before moving to BBC1's Breakfast Time programme.

Newsnight[link]

Paxman became a presenter of Newsnight in 1989.

On 13 May 1997 he spoke with Michael Howard in what became the programme's most notorious interview. Howard, who had been Home Secretary until thirteen days earlier, had held a meeting with Derek Lewis, head of the Prison Service, about the possible dismissal of the governor of Parkhurst Prison, John Marriott. Howard, having given evasive answers, was asked by Paxman the same question – "Did you threaten to overrule him [Lewis]?"  – a total of twelve times in succession (14 if the first two inquiries worded somewhat differently and some time before the succession of 12 are included). Howard did not give a direct answer, instead repeatedly saying that he "did not overrule him", and ignoring the "threaten" part of the question.^[11] Later, during a 20th anniversary edition of Newsnight, Paxman told Howard that he had simply been trying to prolong the interview since the next item in the running order wasn't ready.^[12] In 2004 Paxman raised the subject again with Howard, by then leader of the Conservative Party. This time, Howard laughed it off, saying that he had not threatened to overrule the head of the Prison Service.^{[citation needed]} Secret Home Office papers^[13] released in 2005 under the Freedom of Information Act failed to corroborate this.

In 1998, Denis Halliday, a United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator, resigned his post in Iraq, describing the effects of his own organisation's sanctions as genocide.^[14] Paxman asked Halliday in a Newsnight interview, "Aren't you just an apologist for Saddam Hussein?"

Later that year Paxman won a Royal Television Society award.

In 2003, Prime Minister Tony Blair opted to make the case for the invasion of Iraq via questions from a TV studio audience, mediated by Paxman. The programme is chiefly remembered for the fact that Paxman asked Blair if he and U.S. President Bush prayed together. Blair replied, "No, Jeremy. We don't pray together."^[15]

During the 2005 General Election some viewers complained to the BBC that Paxman's robust questioning of party leaders had been rude and aggressive.^[16] There was criticism of his five-in-the-morning results interview with George Galloway. Referring to Oona King, whom Galloway had just defeated, Paxman asked more than once whether he was proud of having got rid of "one of the very few black women in Parliament."^[17] An exasperated Galloway cut the interview short. Paxman later made a taped guest appearance on the Celebrity Big Brother reality TV show challenging Galloway to a follow-up session "with or without your leotard" (Galloway, a Big Brother contestant at the time, had in an earlier much-publicised stunt during the show dressed up in a leotard).^[18]

Paxman's brusque manner is not restricted to political interviews. When Newsnight's editor decided to broadcast brief weather forecasts instead of financial reports he openly ridiculed the decision: "And for tonight's weather – it's April, what do you expect?".^[19] The financial reports were re-introduced after a few weeks. In a Radio Times poll of 3,000 people in 2006, he was voted the fourth "scariest" TV celebrity.^[20]

Other TV work[link]

Paxman has presented the weekly TV programme review Did You See?, You Decide and, most notably, since 1994, University Challenge, bringing him the distinction of "longest-serving current quizmaster on British TV."^[21] He presented on BBC America and BBC World a weekly compilation of highlights from the domestic edition of Newsnight from February 2008 until shortly after the 2008 U.S. election, when the American programme was cancelled. The programme is still aired on BBC World.^[15][22][23]

In April 2006 The Sun claimed that Paxman earned £800,000 for his Newsnight job and £240,000 for presenting University Challenge, bringing his TV earnings to a yearly total of £1,040,000. This was one of a series of BBC salary leaks in the tabloid press that prompted an internal BBC investigation.^[24]

Beginning on 15 February 2009, his four part documentary The Victorians aired on BBC One. The series explores Victorian art and culture.^[25] From 27 February 2012, the BBC is broadcasting Paxman's series Empire, examining the history and legacy of the British Empire. This programme had its fifth and final episode broadcast on March 26 2012 on BBC One.

Books[link]

Paxman's first book, A Higher Form of Killing (1982), written with then BBC colleague and friend Robert Harris, arose out of an edition of the Panorama programme they had made together on biological and chemical warfare. In a revised 2002 version they asserted that Iraq possessed chemical and biological weapons. In 1985 Paxman published Through the Volcanoes: A Central American Journey, an eyewitness account of people, places and politics. Friends in High Places: Who Runs Britain? (1991) was the result of numerous detailed interviews with the powerful or highly influential, what used to be called The Establishment. Paxman's The English: A Portrait of a People (1999) was not the first of his books to be greeted with wide critical acclaim. The Political Animal: An Anatomy (2003), again based on extensive interviews, examines the motivations and methods of those who constitute the author's professional prey: Westminster politicians. The otherwise-republican Paxman's On Royalty, which entailed the cooperation of Britain's royal family, became by the time it was published in 2006, to his own surprise and somewhat to the surprise of others, a defence of the country's constitutional monarchy. His recent books have been big sellers. His book, The Victorians: Britain through the Paintings of the Age, published in 2009, was accompanied by a BBC documentary series. In his introduction, Paxman acknowledged that the Irish writer Neil Hegarty had played a significant role in editing the book and bringing it to completion. Paxman was praised by academics and figures in the publishing industry for acknowledging Hegarty's substantial contribution. Paxman stated that since all television is a "collaborative exercise", it was "rather silly for this book - which accompanies a television series - to appear with only one name on the cover."^[26] Paxman's most recent book is a study of the British Empire, Empire: What Ruling the World Did to the British.^[27][28]

Radio[link]

Paxman presented the flagship BBC Radio 4 show Start the Week from 1998 to 2002.

Paxman and the BBC[link]

While John Birt was Director General of the BBC, the British press from time to time reported Paxman's criticism of his boss. The former, suspected at first to be an outsider brought in by a hostile government to supervise the BBC's break-up and ultimate sell-off, in turn publicly questioned the confrontational approach, as he saw it, of certain TV and radio interviewers. This was seen at the time as coded criticism of Paxman himself and of his BBC colleague John Humphrys.^[29][30]

On 24 August 2007 Paxman delivered the MacTaggart Memorial Lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival.^[31] In it he was critical of much of contemporary TV in Britain. He expressed concern that as a consequence of recent production scandals the medium was rapidly losing public trust. Speaking of prime minister Tony Blair's criticism of the mass media at the time he left office, Paxman asserted that often press and broadcasting may be "oppositional" in relation to the government of the day this could only benefit democracy. Those Reithian goals, to "inform, educate and entertain," still remained valid. Paxman took the opportunity to dismiss as "inaccurate" the attribution to himself, which was, in fact, Louis Heren^[32], of the oft-quoted "Why is this lying bastard lying to me?" as the supposed dominant thought in his mind when interviewing senior politicians. He called on the television industry to rediscover a sense of purpose.

Awards and honours[link]

In 1996 Paxman received BAFTA's Richard Dimbleby Award for "outstanding presenter in the factual arena." Two years later he won the Royal Television Society's Interviewer of the Year Award for his somewhat notorious Newsnight interview (see above) with Michael Howard, as well as the Broadcasting Press Guild's award for best "non-acting" performer. He got another Richard Dimbleby Award in 2000 and was nominated for the award in 2001 and 2002. He won the Royal Television Society TV journalism presenter of the year award in 2002 and 2007.

Paxman was given an honorary doctorate by the University of Leeds in the summer of 1999 and in December that year received an honorary degree from the University of Bradford.^[33] In 2006 he received an honorary doctorate from the Open University. Among those at the ceremony were three members of the Open University's 1999 University Challenge team. Paxman is a Fellow by special election of St Edmund Hall, Oxford, and an Honorary Fellow of his alma mater, St. Catharine's College, Cambridge.

Personal life[link]

Paxman in 2007

Paxman lives with his partner Elizabeth Ann Clough in Stonor, southeast Oxfordshire. They have three children: Jessica, and twins Victoria and Jack. He supports Leeds United and his favourite players are Billy Paynter and Robbie Rogers, he also enjoys fly fishing in his leisure time.^[34] He is vice-chairman of the Wild Trout Trust conservation charity. He is also a patron of the charity Sustrans.

When, in his twenties, Paxman unsuccessfully applied for the vacant editorship of the venerable Labour-supporting weekly The New Statesman, he said he considered himself a socialist.^[35][36] He had previously stood as a Communist candidate in school elections.^[36] More recently, he has been described as "the archetypal floating voter", and Jon Snow once said that Paxman's greatest strength was being "not very political".^[36] Paxman himself has stated:

I do understand we have to have a government, and I do firmly believe in democracy. So it's not true to say I'm not a political person. I am a political person. But I'm not a party political person. I don't believe there is a monopoly of wisdom in any one party. I suppose as one gets older - I would have described it at the age of 21 as the process of selling out, but another way of looking at it is to say, actually, the world is not a very simple place, and that as you get older simple-minded solutions seem less attractive.^[36]

He has periodically suffered from depression.^[37] It has recently been wrongly asserted that he attended Charterhouse School.^[38] Paxman has denied these claims.^[39]

Criticism[link]

Paxman has been publicly criticised over his and his partner's home help arrangements.^[40] Having advertised on a Romanian website, they hired two people at below minimum wage without a written contract. While this is not illegal in the UK if employees live in, Paxman, known for grilling interviewees on workers' rights issues, was criticised when his employees went public, claiming to have been paid "the bare minimum".^[41]

Paxman's controversial remarks about the Scots have provoked anger at parliamentary level. Twenty Scottish Members of Parliament signed a House of Commons motion in March 2005 condemning him for comparing supposed Scottish dominance at Westminster to British rule in India: a "Scottish Raj" was running the UK, said Paxman. The row came right after a Cabinet minister had complained that the Newsnight host had been offensive about his Glasgow accent. Paxman's response served further to fan the flames.^[42] In an introduction to a new edition of Chambers Dictionary in August 2008 Paxman labelled the work of Scotland's national poet Robert Burns as "sentimental doggerel."^[43] Paxman himself is quarter-Scottish through his maternal grandmother, a fact which he stated has led to many of his comments being misunderstood as he regards the Scots "with affection".^[5]

Paxman has been widely condemned as disrespectful when commented in an absurd way the possible exit of Greece from the Eurozone ('like bad kebab vomiting") on the 31st of May 2012 edition of Newsnight. He received many angry messages from the audience on twitter and other media accusing him for racist and inappropriate stereotypical analogies ^{[44] [45]}. Paxman has come under fire from critics of US foreign policy, including fellow journalist John Pilger, for his involvement with the British-American Project about which, according to The Guardian, "even its supporters joke that it's funded by the CIA."^[46]

Paxman in popular culture[link]

Paxman became a focus of media attention in his own right in October 2000 when the stolen Enigma machine, which had been taken from Bletchley Park Museum, was inexplicably sent to him in the post. He had it returned to its rightful location.^[47]

Charlie Brooker once opined in his Screen Burn columns that one of his new policies for the BBC were he put in charge would be to "let Paxman actually hit people", describing this as "self-explanatory".^[48] Similarly, Graeme Garden suggested on I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue in 1994 that one way to increase Newsnight's ratings would be to "arm Jeremy Paxman".^[49]

Paxman and his presenting style were also frequently parodied by comedian Chris Morris in the satirical TV series The Day Today and Brass Eye. Harry Enfield also parodied Paxman in his short-lived Sky series, Harry Enfield's Brand Spanking New Show.

Bibliography[link]

• Harris, Robert; Jeremy Paxman (1982). A Higher Form of Killing: The Secret Story of Chemical and Biological Warfare. New York, N.Y.: Hill and Wang. ISBN 0-8090-5471-X.  New edition published as Harris, Robert; Jeremy Paxman (2002). A Higher Form of Killing: The Secret History of Gas and Germ Warfare. London: Arrow. ISBN 0-09-944159-4. .
• Paxman, Jeremy (1985). Through the Volcanoes: A Central American Journey. London: Paladin. ISBN 0-586-08572-6. 
• Paxman, Jeremy (1991). Friends in High Places: Who Runs Britain?. London; New York, N.Y.: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-015600-3. 
• Paxman, Jeremy (1999). The English: A Portrait of a People. London: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-026723-9. 
• Paxman, Jeremy (2003). The Political Animal: An Anatomy. London: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-028847-3. 
• Paxman, Jeremy (2006). On Royalty. London; New York, N.Y.: Viking. ISBN 0-670-91662-5. 
• Paxman, Jeremy (2009). The Victorians: Britain Through the Paintings of the Age. London: BBC Books. ISBN 978-1-84607-744-9. 
• Paxman, Jeremy (2011). Empire: What Ruling the World Did to the British. London: Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-91957-4. 

References[link]