The Remarkable Lives of Bill Deedes

(Hardback)

---

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

The long and fascinating life of a national institution, Bill Deedes.

In a career that has spanned seven decades, WF Deedes has proved more than 'pretty good' in a spectacular range of professions. A confident and ambitious journalist at twenty-two, Deedes began a life-long relationship with the Daily Telegraph when reporting from Abyssinia alongside Evelyn Waugh in the 1930s. Deedes served as an officer during the Second World War and was awarded the Military Cross for his heroism. After the war he became an MP and a Cabinet Minister and was made a life peer by Margaret Thatcher in 1986. Deedes has met every Prime Minister since Ramsay MacDonald and has given advice to both John Major and Tony Blair. As journalism's most enduring by-line, Bill Deedes continued to work even after his retirement and was only kept from reporting in Iraq by an essential medical procedure. He published his final article in the Telegraph on 3 August 2007. He died two weeks later.

Deedes consented to this authorized biography on the understanding that it would be published only after his death. Thus, this is a franker and fuller account of Deedes' life than that put across in his own memoirs.

Reviews

...beautifully written but fair rather than fond. Robinson must be applauded for unearthing so much new information. - Lynn Barber, The DAILY TELEGRAPH

Robinson writes clearly and sparely, and the book reads well . . . Masterly - Sunday TELEGRAPH

This intelligently probing and well-written authorised biography . . . succeeds definitively - Spectator

Author Bio

Stephen Robinson joined the Daily Telegraph in 1986, shortly after WF Deedes retired as Editor. Robinson wrote Deedes' obituary for the Telegraph.

Author Location: North London