NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Malcolm Muggeridge

Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge (March 24, 1903–November 14, 1990) was a British journalist, author, satirist, media personality, soldier-spy and Christian scholar. March 24 is the 83rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (84th in leap years). ... 1903 (MCMIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Friday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ... November 14 is the 318th day of the year (319th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 47 days remaining. ... 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This does not cite its references or sources. ... An author is the person who creates a written work, such as a book, story, article or the like. ... List of satirists below - writers, cartoonists and others known for their involvement in satire - humourous social criticism. ...

Biography

Early life

His father, H.T. Muggeridge, was a prominent Labour councillor in Croydon, South London and, for a short time, Member of Parliament for Romford in Ramsey MacDonald's second labour government. His mother was Annie Booler. Henry Thomas H.T.M. Muggeridge (26 June 1864 - March 1942) was a UK politician and father of famous author and journalist, Malcolm Muggeridge. ... The Labour Party has been, since its founding in the early 20th century, the principal political party of the left in the United Kingdom. ... Croydon is a large town and major commercial centre in southern England, and is also an area of Greater London, being the main settlement in the London Borough of Croydon. ... South London area South London (known colloquially as Saaf of the River) is the area of London south of the River Thames. ... A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a parliament. ...

Malcolm, one of five boys, attended Selwyn College at Cambridge University for four years, graduating in 1924 with a pass degree in natural sciences. He then went to India to teach. While still a student he had taught for brief periods in 1920, 1922 and 1924 at the John Ruskin Central School, Croydon, where his father was Chairman of the Governors. Full name Selwyn College Motto Î‘ÎÎ”Î¡Î™Î–Î•Î£Î˜Î• Quit ye like men Named after George Augustus Selwyn Previous names - Established 1882 Sister College(s) Keble College Master Prof. ... The University of Cambridge, located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world, with a reputation as one of the worlds most prestigious universities. ... 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar). ... The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading scheme for undergraduate degrees (bachelors degrees and some masters degrees) in the United Kingdom. ... Year 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... Year 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar). ... 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar). ... John Ruskin College is a further education college and former school in the London Borough of Croydon, which started life in 1920 as the John Ruskin Boys Central School. ... Croydon is a large town and major commercial centre in southern England, and is also an area of Greater London, being the main settlement in the London Borough of Croydon. ...

Returning to England in 1927, he married Katherine Dobbs (1903–1994), also called Kathleen or Kitty, whose mother Rosalind Dobbs was a younger sister of Beatrice Webb. He worked as a supply teacher, before moving to teach in Egypt six months later. Here he met Arthur Ransome who was visiting Egypt as a journalist for the Manchester Guardian. Ransome recommended Muggeridge to the editors of the Guardian and he was employed as a journalist for the first time. 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1903 (MCMIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Friday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... Beatrice Webb Martha Beatrice Potter Webb (January 2, 1858 - April 30, 1943) (also called Beatrice Webb) was a British socialist, economist and reformer, usually referred to in the same breath as her husband, Sidney Webb. ... Cover of Arthur Ransomes autobiography Arthur Mitchell Ransome (January 18, 1884 â€“ June 3, 1967), was a British author and journalist, best known for writing the Swallows and Amazons series of childrens books, which tell of school-holiday adventures of children, mostly in the Lake District and the Norfolk... The Guardian was also the name of a U.S. television series. ...

Moscow

Initially attracted by Communism, Muggeridge and his wife travelled to Moscow in 1932, where Malcolm was to be a correspondent for the Manchester Guardian, standing in for William Chamberlin who was about to take leave of absence. During Muggeridge's early time in Moscow, his main journalistic concentration was writing a novel Picture Palace about his experiences at the Manchester Guardian, completed and submitted to publishers in January 1933. Unfortunately, the publishers were concerned with potential libel claims and the book was not published causing some financial embarrassment to Muggeridge who was not actually employed at the time, being paid only for articles which he could get accepted. Increasingly becoming disillusioned by communism, Malcolm decided to investigate at first hand reports of the famine in Ukraine, travelling there and to the Caucasus without permission of the Soviet authorities. Reports he sent back to the Guardian in the diplomatic bag, thus evading censorship, were not fully printed and were not published under Muggeridge's name. At the same time, rival journalist Gareth Jones who had met Muggeridge in Moscow went public with his own stories confirming the extent of the famine. Writing in the New York Times, Walter Duranty blatantly denied the existence of any famine. To his credit, Gareth Jones wrote letters to the Guardian in support of Muggeridge's articles about the famine. Having come directly into conflict with the paper's editorial policy, Muggeridge turned back to novel writing, starting Winter In Moscow (1934), describing real conditions in the socialist utopia and satirizing Western journalists uncritical of the Stalin regime. He was to later call Duranty "the greatest liar I have met in journalism." Later, he began a writing partnership with Hugh Kingsmill. Muggeridge's politics changed as he moved from what was seen as an independent socialist point of view, to what was seen by many as a right-wing stance that was no weaker in its criticism of problems in society. Muggeridge's politics always defied easy categorization in party-political terms. Location Position of Moscow in Europe Government Country District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov Geographical characteristics Area - City 1,081 kmÂ² Population - City (2007) - Density 10,469,000 9684. ... Year 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will take you to a full 1932 calendar). ... The Holodomor (Ukrainian: ) was the 1932â€“33 famine and a major national catastrophe in Ukraine. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Caucasus Mountains. ... Gareth Jones is: Gareth Jones, actor (d. ... Walter Duranty Walter Duranty (1884â€“1957), born in Liverpool, England, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1932 for a set of stories he wrote in 1931 as The New York Times Moscow correspondent, covering Joseph Stalins Five-Year Plan to industrialize the Soviet Union. ... 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Hugh Kingsmill Lunn (1889–1949), who used the pseudonym Hugh Kingsmill, was a versatile British writer and journalist. ...

World War II

During the war he was part of the British Secret Intelligence Service operation in Brussels which was headed by Richard Barclay, a weak man whom Muggeridge and his colleague Donald McLachlan bullied. Muggeridge's vainglorious attempt to claim credit for the dismantling of the German spy network in Antwerp, in which he played no part, provoked furious protests from those involved (Richard Gatty and Charles Arnold-Baker), to Barclay. He was later sent to neutral Lourenco Marques in Portuguese East Africa where he is reputed to have been responsible for the capture of a German U Boat, but also spoke later of an attempt at suicide. Shortly after the liberation of Paris by the Allies, Muggeridge was assigned to make an initial investigation into P.G. Wodehouse's five infamous broadcasts from Berlin during the war. Though he was prepared initially to dislike Wodehouse, the interview became the start of a lifelong friendship and publishing relationship. This meeting was later to be the subject of a stage play by Roger Milner "Beyond a Joke". The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6, is the United Kingdoms external intelligence agency. ... Nickname: The Capital Of Europe, Comic City City of a 100 Museums[] Map showing the location of Brussels in Belgium Coordinates: Country Belgium Region Brussels-Capital Region Founded 979 Founded (Region) June 18, 1989 - Mayor (Municipality) Freddy Thielemans Area - City 162 (Region) kmÂ² (62. ... For other uses, see Antwerp (disambiguation). ... Professor Charles Arnold-Baker, OBE (1966), was born Wolfgang Charles Werner von Blumenthal at Berlin, 25 June 1918. ... Map of Mozambique with Maputo highlighted Maputo is the capital of Mozambique. ... October 1939. ... The Liberation of Paris in World War II took place in late August 1944 after the battle of Normandy. ... Called English literatures performing flea, P. G. Wodehouse, pictured in 1904, became famous for his complex plots, ingenious wordplay, and prolific output. ... Berlin is the capital city and one of the sixteen states of the Federal Republic of Germany. ...

Post-war period

He worked on other papers, including the Calcutta Statesman, Evening Standard, and Daily Telegraph. He was editor of Punch magazine from 1953 to 1957, a challenging appointment for one who claimed to have no sense of humour. In 1957 he received considerable public and professional approbrium for criticism of the British monarchy in a US magazine,the Saturday Evening News. Given the provocative title "Does England Really Need a Queen?", its publication was deliberately delayed by five months by a canny publisher to coincide with the Royal State Visit to Washington, D.C.taking place later in the year. Whilst the article was little more than a rehash of views originally expressed in a 1955 article "Royal Soap Opera", its unfortunate timing caused particular outrage back in Britain and he was sacked for a short period from the BBC and a contract with Beaverbrook newspapers cancelled. His infamy helped propel him to becoming an even better known broadcaster with a reputation as a tough interviewer. But by the 1960's, he was at a period in which his own spiritual beliefs began to become more significant in his professional career. He increasingly became a figure of some ridicule and satire as he took to frequently denouncing the new sexual lassitude of the swinging sixties on radio and television. He particularly railed against "Pills and Pot" - birth control pills and cannabis. His 1966 book, Tread softly for you tread on my jokes, was published during this time of spiritual search, and though acerbic in its wit, also revealed a serious view of life. The title is an allusion to the last line of the poem He Wishes For the Cloths of Heaven by W. B. Yeats – " Tread softly because you tread on my dreams." In 1967, he preached at Great St Mary's, Cambridge, and again in 1970. Headlines of the Evening Standard on the day of London bombing on July 7, 2005, in Waterloo Station The Evening Standard is a British tabloid newspaper published and sold in London and surrounding areas of southeast England. ... 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. ... Punch was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire published from 1841 to 1992 and from 1996 to 2002. ... 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The British Monarchy is a shared monarchy. ... Nickname: DC, The District Motto: Justitia Omnibus (Justice for All) Location of Washington, D.C., in relation to the states Maryland and Virginia Coordinates: Federal District District of Columbia - Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) - City Council Chairperson: Vincent C. Gray (D) Ward 1: Jim Graham (D) Ward 2: Jack Evans... Dr. Seuss Jean Shepherd Ringo Starr John Steinbeck Gloria Steinem Tom Stoppard Hunter S. Thompson Gore Vidal Peter Vincent Kurt Vonnegut Andy Warhol Alan Watts Bob Weir Brian Wilson Tom Wolfe There were six Olympics held during the decade. ... YOU ARE COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL William Butler Yeats (IPA: ) (13 June 1865 â€“ 28 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, mystic and public figure, brother of the artist Jack Butler Yeats and son of John Butler Yeats. ... St Mary the Great with St Michael, also known as Great St Marys Church, is the church of the University of Cambridge, England. ... Shown within Cambridgeshire Geography Status: City (1951) Region: East of England Admin. ...

Muggeridge became known as the "discoverer" of Mother Teresa, whom he first interviewed in London in 1968. He told the world about her deeds through a television documentary filmed in Calcutta called Something Beautiful for God, and through a best-selling book of the same name. He was well-known for his wit and profound writings (e.g., "Never forget that only dead fish swim with the stream"). He wrote two volumes of an autobiography called Chronicles of Wasted Time. The first volume (1972) was The Green Stick. The second volume (1973) was The Infernal Grove. A projected third volume The Right Eye covering the post-war period was started but never completed. Mother Teresa (born Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu [] (August 26, 1910 â€“ September 5, 1997), Bharat Ratna, OM, was an Albanian Roman Catholic who founded the Missionaries of Charity and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work. ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday. ... This article is on Calcutta/Kolkata, the city. ...

Conversion to Christianity

Having professed publicly to being an agnostic for most of his life, he found his Christian voice, publishing Jesus Rediscovered in 1969, a collection of essays, articles and sermons on faith. It became a best seller. Jesus: The Man Who Lives followed in 1976, a more substantial work describing the gospel in his own words. In A Third Testament, he profiles seven spiritual thinkers, or God's Spies as he called them, who influenced his life: Augustine of Hippo, William Blake, Blaise Pascal, Leo Tolstoy, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Søren Kierkegaard, and Fyodor Dostoevsky. In this period he also produced several important BBC documentaries with a religious theme, including In the Footsteps of St. Paul. Augustinus redirects here. ... William Blake in an 1807 portrait by Thomas Phillips. ... Blaise Pascal (pronounced ), (June 19, 1623â€“August 19, 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher. ... Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Russian: , IPA: ), commonly referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy (September 9 [O.S. August 28] 1828 â€“ November 20 [O.S. November 7] 1910) was a Russian novelist, writer, essayist, philosopher, Christian anarchist, pacifist, educational reformer, vegetarian, moral thinker, and an influential member of the Tolstoy... Dietrich Bonhoeffer Dietrich Bonhoeffer [] (February 4, 1906 â€“ April 9, 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and participant in the German resistance movement against Nazism and founding member of the Confessing Church. ... SÃ¸ren Aabye Kierkegaard (IPA: ; 5 May 1813 â€“ 11 November 1855) was a 19th century Danish philosopher and theologian, generally recognized as the first existentialist philosopher. ... Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (Russian: Ð¤Ñ‘Ð´Ð¾Ñ€ ÐœÐ¸Ñ…Ð°ÌÐ¹Ð»Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð”Ð¾ÑÑ‚Ð¾ÐµÌÐ²ÑÐºÐ¸Ð¹, IPA: , sometimes transliterated Dostoyevsky ) (November 11 [O.S. October 30] 1821 â€“ February 9 [O.S. January 28] 1881) is considered one of the greatest Russian writers. ...

Subsequent conversion to Roman Catholicism

In 1982, he surprised many people by converting to Roman Catholicism at the age of 79 along with his wife, Kitty. This was largely due to the influence of Mother Teresa. His last book was Conversion, published in 1988 and recently republished, describes his life as a 20th century pilgrimage - a spiritual journey. The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ...

Muggeridge was a controversial figure - widely known as a drinker, heavy smoker and womaniser in earlier life. However, his best work came as a result of finding his faith late in life, eloquently expressed both in broadcast and in writing, and fighting energetically on moral issues. He is now affectionately remembered as St. Mugg. From his book, Jesus: The Man Who Lives, he says, "If the greatest of all, Incarnate God, chooses to be the servant of all, who would wish to be the master?"

A Literary Society in his name was established on March 24th 2003, the occasion of his centenary, and publishes a quarterly newsletter called The Gargoyle. The society, based in Britain is progressively republishing Muggeridge's works. Muggeridge's papers are lodged in the Special Collections at Wheaton College, Illinois, USA.

Works

Books

Sermons

References

The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GBÂ£4 billion...

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