James Goldsmith as he appeared in his Referendum Party’s mass-mailed video tape, March 1997.

Sir James Michael Goldsmith (February 26, 1933, Paris, France - July 18, 1997, Benahavis, Spain) was a British billionaire ^[1] businessman and founder of the short-lived eurosceptic Referendum Party in Britain. Image File history File links James_goldsmith. ... Image File history File links James_goldsmith. ... The Referendum Party were a single-issue party in the United Kingdom formed to contest the 1997 General Election. ... For the band, see 1997 (band). ... is the 57th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the capital of France. ... is the 199th day of the year (200th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the band, see 1997 (band). ... Benahavis is a small Andalucian Pueblo situated just 10 minutes from the Coast behind San Pedro de Alcantara on the Costa del Sol, Southern Spain. ... A billionaire is a person who has a net worth of at least one billion units of currency, such as United States Dollars (USD), Pounds or Euros. ... Euroscepticism has become a general term for opposition to the process of European integration. ... The Referendum Party were a single-issue party in the United Kingdom formed to contest the 1997 General Election. ...

Early life

Born in Paris, he was the son of luxury hotel owner and former Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Major Frank Goldsmith and his French wife Marcelle Moullier, and the younger brother of environmental campaigner Edward Goldsmith. A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a parliament. ... Major Frank Adolphe Benedict Goldsmith (1878-February 14, 1967) was a British Conservative Member of Parliament and luxury hotel owner in France and the United Kingdom. ... Edward (Teddy) Goldsmith (b. ...

James Goldsmith attended Eton, but dropped out in 1949. Two years later Goldsmith joined the army after his father had paid off the very substantial gambling debts he had incurred in the interim^[2] The Kings College of Our Lady of Eton beside Windsor, commonly known as Eton College or just Eton, is a public school (privately funded and independent) for boys, founded in 1440 by King Henry VI. It is located in Eton, near Windsor in England, north of Windsor Castle, and... Year 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Business

James's father Frank changed the family name from the German Goldschmidt to the English Goldsmith. The Goldschmidts, like their neighbours and relatives the Rothschilds, had been prosperous merchant bankers in Frankfurt since the 16th century. James' grandfather Adolph came to London as a millionaire in 1895.^[3] The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... ...   (German: , English: American English: ) is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a mid-2007 population of 663,567. ... Year 1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

During the 50s and 60s Goldsmith's involvement in finance, which in his early years was always more as a gambler than as an industrialist, brought him several times close to bankruptcy.^[4] His successes included winning the British franchise for Alka-Seltzer heartburn relief medicine and being the first person to introduce the concept of low-cost generic drugs to the UK public. Cherry Alka Seltzer Plus Tablet dissolving in water Alka-Seltzer is a brand name owned by the German Bayer Corporation for a line of medications sold over the counter and taken by means of rapidly dissolving tablets that form an effervescent solution in water. ...

He was also notable as a greenmail corporate raider and asset stripper. With the financial backing of Sir Isaac Wolfson^[5], he acquired a diverse bunch of food companies which was quoted on the London Stock Exchange as 'Cavenham Foods'. This included the Bovril company - the acquisition of which he financed by selling off its assets in South America and elsewhere.^[6] As investigative journalists began to question his techniques of dealing with the funds and assets of publicly-quoted companies, Goldsmith began increasingly to deal through private companies registered both in the UK and abroad. These included the French company Generale Occidentale and Hong Kong and then Cayman registered "General Oriental Investments". During the 60s and 70s Goldsmith had been given some backing by the finance company Slater, Walker, run by Jim Slater. When Slater, Walker crashed and had to be rescued by a 'lifeboat' organised by the Bank of England in 1975, eyebrows were raised when it was handed to Goldsmith for its final dismemberment through his private companies.^[7] Greenmail or greenmailing is a corporate acquisition strategy for generating large amounts of money from the attempted hostile takeover of large, often undervalued or inefficient companies. ... A corporate raid is a business term, sometimes also referred to as breaking a company. ... Asset stripping is the practice of buying a company in order to sell its assets individually at a profit. ... Sir Isaac Wolfson Bt FRS (September 17, 1897 – June 20, 1991) was Chairman of Great Universal Stores and established the Wolfson Foundation. ... The Source by Greyworld, in the new LSE building Paternoster Square. ... Bovril in a 250g jar Bovril is the trademarked name of a thick, salty beef extract, sold in a distinctive, bulbous jar. ... This article is about Jim Slater the accountant. ... Headquarters Coordinates , , Governor Mervyn King Central Bank of United Kingdom Currency Pound sterling ISO 4217 Code GBP Base borrowing rate 5. ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Goldsmith was knighted in the controversial 1976 resignation honours of Prime Minister Harold Wilson, the so-called "Lavender List". James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, PC (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was one of the most prominent British politicians of the 20th century. ...

In 1986 Goldsmith's companies reportedly made $90 million from an attempted hostile takeover of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. In addition, from 1983 until 1988, Goldsmith, via a series of takeovers in America, built a private holding company, "Cavenham Forest Industries", which became one of the largest private owners of timberland in the world and one of the top-five timber-holding companies of any type in America. Year 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar). ... Hostile takeover can refer to: For the business usage see takeover. ... Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company was founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling. ...

A key to Goldsmith's success in American timber investments was that he had identified a quirk in American accounting, whereby companies with substantial timberland holdings would often carry them on their balance sheets at a US $1 valuation (as the result of years of depreciation). Goldsmith, always a keen reader of financial statements, realised that in many instances the underlying value of the timberland assets alone, carried at nearly zero value, was, in fact, worth the target company's market capitalisation. With this key insight, Goldsmith began a series of raids that ultimately left him with a holding company with huge tracts of timberland acquired at virtually no nett cost. Declining-balance depreciation of a $50,000 asset with $6,500 salvage value over 20 years. ... Market capitalization, often abbreviated to market cap, mkt. ...

Goldsmith retired to base himself in Mexico in 1987, having correctly anticipated the market crash of that year and liquidated substantial assets. However he continued his involvement in corporate raiding, including an attempt on British-American Tobacco in 1989 (for which he joined forces with Kerry Packer and Jacob Rothschild). Late in this time frame, he also swapped his American timber assets for a 49.9 percent stake in Newmont Mining and remained on the board of Newmont until he liquidated his stake through a series of open-market trades in 1993. He was precluded by the terms of the original purchase of Newmont to attempt to take-over the company. Year 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar). ... ... Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer AC (17 December 1937 – 26 December 2005) was an Australian publishing, media and gaming tycoon. ... Nathaniel Charles Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, OM, GBE (born 29 April 1936) is a British investment banker, philanthropist and a member of the prominent Rothschild family of Jewish bankers. ...

In 1990, Goldsmith also began a much lower-profile, but also very profitable, global "private equity style" investment operation. By 1994 executives working in his employ in Hong Kong had built a very substantial position in the intermediation of global strategic raw-material flows. Studies of various public filings have also found fingerprints of the same Goldsmith-backed Hong Kong based team taking significant stakes in operations as diverse as key Soviet strategic ports in Vladivostok and Vostochny, and in Zee Television, India's dominant private television broadcaster which was later sold to Rupert Murdoch. A very large Hong Kong-linked and Goldsmith funded stake in one of the world's largest nickel operations, INCO Indonesia, was also disclosed in the 1990s, showing Goldsmith's typical ability to position his capital far before an investment trend became obvious to others. Private equity is a broad term that refers to any type of equity investment in an asset in which the equity is not freely tradable on a public stock market. ... Vladivostok (Russian: ) is the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia, situated close to the Russo-Sino border and North Korea. ... For other uses, see Vostochny. ... Keith Rupert Murdoch AC, KCSG (born 11 March 1931) is an Australian born United States citizen who is a global media executive and is the controlling shareholder, chairman and managing director of News Corporation, based in New York. ... For other uses, see Nickel (disambiguation). ...

Goldsmith and the media

Goldsmith is well known for his legendary legal attack on the magazine, Private Eye, who referred to him as "Sir Jams" and in Goldsmith's Referendum Party period as "Sir Jams Fishpaste". In 1976 the billionaire issued over sixty libel writs against Private Eye and its distributors, nearly bankrupting the magazine and almost imprisoning its editor Richard Ingrams. This story is detailed in Ingrams' book Goldenballs! The publisher of the magazine at the time was Anthony Blond, an old friend; Blond and Goldsmith themselves remained on good terms though. Goldsmith also pursued vendettas against other journalists who queried his methods, including Barbara Conway who wrote the Scrutineer column in the City pages of the Daily Telegraph. Private eye may mean: Look up Private eye on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Private Eye a fortnightly British satirical magazine-newspaper, edited by Ian Hislop (as of 2005) A private investigator, a private detective for hire (see also crime fiction and detective fiction) Private Eye, a song by Alkaline Trio... Year 1976 Pick up sticks(MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Richard Ingrams (born August 19, 1937) was the second editor of British satirical magazine, Private Eye, taking over from Christopher Booker in 1963. ... This article deals with The Daily Telegraph in Britain, see The Daily Telegraph (Australia) for the Australian publication The Daily Telegraph is a British broadsheet newspaper founded in 1855. ...

In 1977 Goldsmith bought the French weekly L'Express and between 1979 and 1981 published the UK based news magazine NOW! which ultimately failed to sell sufficient copies to survive.^[8] LExpress is Frances first weekly news magazine. ... NOW! was a British newsmagazine founded by entrepreneur Sir James Goldsmith, partly as a vehicle for his right-wing political views. ...

Oliver Stone's 1987 film Wall Street featured a British billionaire financier, Sir Laurence Wildman. This character is believed to have been modelled on Goldsmith. William Oliver Stone (born September 15, 1946), known simply as Oliver Stone, is a three-time Academy Award-winning American film director and screenwriter. ... Year 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar). ... This article is about the 1987 film. ...

Politics

Goldsmith, like his friends Lord Lucan and John Aspinall, believed that Britain had been a victim of socialist misrule and that communists had infiltrated the Labour party and the western media.^[9] In the mid-1990s, Goldsmith was a major financial backer of a leading Euro-sceptic think tank, the European Foundation. In 1994 he became an elected member of the European Parliament representing France, associating himself with a right-wing coalition. L'Autre Europe. Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan (born 18 December 1934), known as Lord Bingham from 1949 to 1964, was or is a missing British aristocrat who disappeared on 8 November 1974 after his childrens nanny was found murdered. ... John Aspinall (1926-2000) was a gambler and zoo owner. ... Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). ... This article is about the institution. ... The European Foundation is a leading Eurosceptic think tank based in the United Kingdom. ... Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) The year 1994 was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by the United Nations. ... A Member of the European Parliament (English abbreviation MEP)[1] is a member of the European Unions directly-elected legislative body, the European Parliament. ... Established 1952, as the Common Assembly President Hans-Gert Pöttering (EPP) Since 16 January 2007 Vice-Presidents 14 Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou (EPP) Alejo Vidal-Quadras (EPP) Gérard Onesta (Greens – EFA) Edward McMillan-Scott (ED) Mario Mauro (EPP) Miguel Angel Martínez Martínez (PES) Luigi Cocilovo (ALDE) Mechtild...

In response to the decision of the Conservative government to pass the Maastricht Treaty into UK law, Goldsmith founded (and funded) the Referendum Party in the UK, on the same lines as L'Autre Europe, to stand candidates in the 1997 general election. Goldsmith's declared intention was to put pressure on the main political parties to take account of the Eurosceptic mood of the electorate. In a move widely seen as an attempt to head off Goldsmith, the then Conservative Prime Minister, John Major, announced that Britain would not join the single European currency (the euro) without a referendum. Tony Blair follwed by making a similar pledge on behalf of the Labour Party. Nevertheless, the Referendum Party stood in hundreds of constituencies at the 1997 general election. Part of its campaign involved mass-mailing over five million homes with a VHS tape making the case for a referendum to decide Britain's relationship with the European Union. It has been suggested that he also considered plans to broadcast nationwide to the UK during the election from his own offshore pirate Referendum Radio station.^[10] The Referendum Party were a single-issue party in the United Kingdom formed to contest the 1997 General Election. ... The UK general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997. ... Bottom view of VHS cassette with magnetic tape exposed Top view of VHS cassette with front casing removed The Video Home System, better known by its abbreviation VHS, is a recording and playing standard. ... The term Pirate Radio usually refers to illegal or unregulated radio transmission. ...

In the 1997 election, Goldsmith stood as a candidate for his party in the London parliamentary constituency of Putney, against Tory cabinet minister David Mellor. Goldsmith himself stood no chance of victory, but the declaration made for one of the most memorable moments of the entire election - Mellor lost his seat to the Labour candidate and was subsequently taunted by Goldsmith (who clapped his hands slowly and chanted "out, out, out!") and other candidates. The Referendum Party effectively ceased to exist when Goldsmith died two months after the election. The seat was regained by the Conservatives in the 2005 General Election. The principal legacy of the Referendum Party was as a catalyst for the growing mood of Euroscepticism in Britain. In particular, many commentators believe that Blair's decision, before the 1997 election, to follow Major in pledging that he would hold a referendum before Britain scrapped the pound, effectively prevented the new Labour government from acting. Without the Referendum Party, Britain would probably have joined the euro. For the band, see 1997 (band). ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Putney is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative and Unionist Party) is currently the second largest political party in the United Kingdom in terms of sitting Members of Parliament (MPs), the largest in terms of public membership, and the oldest political party in the United Kingdom. ... The Right Honourable David Mellor (born 12 March 1949) is a British Conservative politician and barrister. ... The Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom. ... ...

Personal life

Goldsmith was married three times, and is said to have coined the phrase: "When you marry your mistress, you create a job vacancy."

His first wife, whom he married when 20, was the Bolivian heiress Maria Isabel Patiño, the 18-year-old daughter of tin magnate Antenor Patiño and the Duchess of Durcal, a member of the Spanish royal family. When Goldsmith proposed the marriage to Antenor Patiño, Patiño is alleged to have said, "We are not in the habit of marrying Jews", to which Goldsmith is reported to have replied, "Well, I am not in the habit of marrying [Red] Indians."^[3]. This story if true is typical of the raw style of Goldsmith's humour. Antenor Patiño is Bolivian tycoon, called the King of Tin. He married the daughter of Spanish monarch Alfonso XIII, the princess María Cristina de Borbón. ...

With the heiress secretly pregnant and the Patinos insisting the pair separate for good, the couple eloped in January 1954. The marriage was tragically brief. Rendered comatose by a massive cerebral hemorrhage in her seventh month of pregnancy, Maria Isabel Patiño de Goldsmith died in May 1954; her only child, Isabel, who survived, was delivered by Caesarian section. A intracranial hemorrhage is a bleed into the substance of the cerebrum. ... A caesarean section (AE cesarean section), or c-section, is a form of childbirth in which a surgical incision is made through a mothers abdomen (laparotomy) and uterus (hysterotomy) to deliver one or more babies. ...

Goldsmith's second wife was Ginette Lery, with whom he had a son, Manes, and daughter, Alix.

In 1978 he married for the third time; his new wife was his hitherto mistress Lady Annabel Vane-Tempest-Stewart, daughter of the 8th Marquess of Londonderry (gaining access to a further fortune based on real property located in the UK); the couple had three children, Jemima (born in 1974), Zacharias (born in 1975) and Benjamin (born in 1980). Madame de Pompadour, the mistress of King Louis XV of France. ... Lady Annabel Vane-Tempest-Stewart, English socialite, is the widow of Sir James Goldsmith. ... Edward Charles Stewart Robert Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 8th Marquess of Londonderry (18 November 1902 – 17 October 1955) succeeded his father as Marquess on 11 February 1949. ... Jemima Khan, also known as Jemima Marcelle Goldsmith (born January 30, 1974, London), ex-wife of cricketer Imran Khan, is a British socialite and a UK ambassador for UNICEF.[1] // Khan is the daughter of billionaire Sir James Goldsmith and aristocrat Lady Annabel Vane-Tempest-Stewart. ... Zac Goldsmith on BBC Breakfast in 2002 Frank Zacharias Zac Robin Goldsmith (born January 20, 1975), son of billionaire Sir James Goldsmith, is the editor of The Ecologist magazine and an adviser to the Conservative Party. ... Benjamin James Goldsmith (born 28th October 1980)[1] in London is an English financier and environmentalist. ...

After his third marriage, Goldsmith embarked on an affair with an aristocratic Frenchwoman, Laure Boulay de la Meurthe, with whom he had two more children. He treated Ms. de la Meurthe as his wife and introduced her as such at both public and private functions during the last years of his life.

Goldsmith died at age 64 of a heart attack brought about by pancreatic cancer. At his death he was a phenomenally wealthy man with a fortune that was completely self-made. His track-record of compounding his wealth rivals that of George Soros or Warren Buffett. His death attracted tributes from quarters as diverse as Tony Blair, who said "He was an extraordinary character and though I didn't always agree with his political views, obviously, he was an amazing and interesting, fascinating man and I think people will miss him." ^[11] and Margaret Thatcher who simply stated, "Jimmy was a great man, larger than life, and I will miss him". For other people of the same name, see Tony Blair (disambiguation) Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born May 6, 1953)[1] is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Leader of the Labour Party, and Member of Parliament for the constituency... Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (née Roberts; born 13 October 1925) served as British Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990 and leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 until 1990, being the first and only woman to hold either post. ...

References

• Communist Propaganda Apparatus & Other Threats to The Media, by Sir James Goldsmith - a booklet containing his statement to the Media Committee of the Conservative Party at the British House of Commons, 21 January, 1981. (The Conservative Monday Club distributed this booklet).
• Richard Ingrams, Goldenballs! London: Harriman House, 1993. ISBN 1-897597-03-7.
• The Mayfair Set, a 1999 BAFTA Award-winning documentary series by Adam Curtis describing buccaneer capitalists in the Thatcher years, focusing on James Goldsmith and other members of the Clermont Set.

“TIME” redirects here. ... “TIME” redirects here. ... For other uses, see Guardian. ... Yahoo! GeoCities is a free webhosting service founded by David Bohnett and John Rezner in late 1994 as Beverly Hills Internet. ... The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative and Unionist Party) is currently the second largest political party in the United Kingdom in terms of sitting Members of Parliament (MPs), the largest in terms of public membership, and the oldest political party in the United Kingdom. ... Type Lower House Speaker Michael Martin, (Non-affiliated) since October 23, 2000 Leader Harriet Harman, (Labour) since June 28, 2007 Shadow Leader Theresa May, (Conservative) since May 5, 2005 Members 659 Political groups Labour Party Conservative Party Liberal Democrats Scottish National Party Plaid Cymru Democratic Unionist Party Sinn Féin... The Conservative Monday Club (widely known as the Monday Club) is a British pressure-group with its origins in the Conservative Party. ... Richard Ingrams (born August 19, 1937) was the second editor of British satirical magazine, Private Eye, taking over from Christopher Booker in 1963. ... The Mayfair Set was a series of programmes produced by Adam Curtis for the BBC The Mayfair Set looked at how buccaneer capitalists were allowed to shape the climate of the Thatcher years, focusing on the rise of Colonel David Stirling, Jim Slater, James Goldsmith, and Tiny Rowland, all members... The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), is a British organization that hosts annual awards shows for film, television, childrens film and television, and interactive media. ... Adam Curtis at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 2005 Adam Curtis (born 1955) is a British television documentary producer. ... Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (née Roberts; born 13 October 1925) served as British Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990 and leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 until 1990, being the first and only woman to hold either post. ... The Clermont Set was an exclusive group of rich British gamblers who met at the Clermont Club in Londons Berkeley Square, Mayfair. ...

External links

• Television coverage of the Putney election result 1997 (featuring Goldsmith heckling David Mellor on YouTube)
• [5] Sir James Goldsmith U.S. Senate Speech - Nov. 15, 1994