Malcolm Muggeridge | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-03-24)24 March 1903 Sanderstead,Surrey, England |
| Died | 14 November 1990(1990-11-14) (aged 87) Robertsbridge,East Sussex, England |
| Alma mater | Selwyn College, Cambridge |
| Occupations |
|
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4 |
| Relatives | H. T. Muggeridge (father) |
Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge (24 March 1903 – 14 November 1990)[1][2] was aconservative British journalist and satirist. His father,H. T. Muggeridge, was a socialist politician and one of the earlyLabour Party Members of Parliament (forRomford, inEssex). Malcolm's brother Eric was one of the founders ofPlan International. In his twenties, Muggeridge was attracted tocommunism and went to live in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, and the experience turned him into ananti-communist.
DuringWorld War II, he worked for the British government as a soldier and a spy, first inEast Africa for two years and then inParis. In the aftermath of the war, he converted toChristianity under the influence ofHugh Kingsmill and helped to bringMother Teresa to popular attention in the West. He was a critic of thesexual revolution and of drug use.
Muggeridge kept detailed diaries for much of his life, which were published in 1981 under the titleLike It Was: The Diaries of Malcolm Muggeridge, and he developed them into two volumes of an uncompleted autobiographyChronicles of Wasted Time.[3]
Muggeridge's father, Henry (known asH. T. Muggeridge), served as aLabour Partycouncillor in the local government ofCroydon,South London, as a founder-member of theFabian Society,[2] and as a Labour Member of Parliament forRomford (1929–1931) duringRamsay MacDonald's second Labour government. Muggeridge's biographerRichard Ingrams described H.T. as "a small bearded man with a large frame, a twinkling eye, and a rather bulbous nose which he passed on to his son."[4] Muggeridge's mother was Annie Booler.
The middle of five brothers, Muggeridge was born inSanderstead,Surrey. His first name, Thomas, was chosen by H.T. in honour of his heroThomas Carlyle.[4] He grew up in Croydon and attendedSelhurst Grammar School there and thenSelwyn College, Cambridge, for four years. Still a student, he taught for brief periods in 1920, 1922 and 1924 at theJohn Ruskin Central School, Croydon, where his father was Chairman of the Governors. After graduating in 1924 with apass degree in natural sciences, he went toBritish India for three years to teach English literature atUnion Christian College, Aluva,Kingdom of Cochin. His writing career began during his time in the Kingdom via an exchange of correspondence on war and peace withMahatma Gandhi, with Muggeridge's article on the interactions being published inYoung India, a local magazine.
Returning to Britain in 1927, he marriedKatherine "Kitty" Dobbs (1903–1994),[a] the daughter of Rosalind Dobbs (a younger sister ofBeatrice Webb).[5] He worked as a supply teacher before moving to teach English literature inEgypt six months later. There he metArthur Ransome, who was visiting Egypt as a journalist for theManchester Guardian. Ransome recommended Muggeridge to the newspaper's editors, who offered Muggeridge his first position in journalism.[6]
Initially attracted bycommunism, Muggeridge and his wife travelled to Moscow in 1932. He was to be a correspondent for theManchester Guardian standing in forWilliam Henry Chamberlin, who was about to take a leave of absence. During Muggeridge's early time in Moscow he was completing a novel,Picture Palace, loosely based on his experiences and observations at theManchester Guardian. It was completed and submitted to publishers in January 1933, but there was concern by the publishers over potentiallibel claims, and the published book was not distributed. Very few first-edition copies exist today. That setback caused considerable financial difficulties for Muggeridge, who was not employed and was paid only for articles that were accepted.
Increasingly disillusioned by his close observation of communism in practice, Muggeridge decided to investigate reports of thefamine in Ukraine by travelling there and to theCaucasus without first obtaining the permission of the Soviet authorities. The revealing reports that he sent back toThe Manchester Guardian in thediplomatic bag, thus evading censorship, were not fully printed, and those that were published (on 25, 27 and 28 March 1933) were not published under Muggeridge's name.[7][8] Meanwhile, fellow journalistGareth Jones, who had met Muggeridge in Moscow, published his own stories. The two accounts helped to confirm the extent of a forced famine, which was politically motivated. Writing inThe New York TimesWalter Duranty denied the existence of any famine.[9] Jones wrote letters to theManchester Guardian in support of Muggeridge's articles about the famine.
Having come into conflict with British newspapers' editorial policy of not provoking the authorities in the Soviet Union,[10] Muggeridge returned to novel writing. He wroteWinter in Moscow (1934), which describes conditions in the "socialist utopia" and satirised Western journalists' uncritical view of the Soviet regime. He was later to call Duranty "the greatest liar I have met in journalism". Later, he began a writing partnership withHugh Kingsmill. Muggeridge's politics changed from an independent socialist point of view to a conservative religious stance. He wrote later:
I wrote in a mood of anger, which I find rather absurd now: not so much because the anger was, in itself, unjustified, as because getting angry about human affairs is as ridiculous as losing one's temper when an air flight is delayed.
— Muggeridge 1973, p. 274
After his time in Moscow, Muggeridge worked on other newspapers, includingThe Statesman inCalcutta, of which he was editor in 1934 to 1936. In his second stint in India, he lived by himself in Calcutta, having left behind his wife and children in London. Between 1930 and 1936, the Muggeridges had three sons and a daughter.[11] His office was in the headquarters of the newspaper inChowringhee.
Whenwar was declared, Muggeridge, now aged 36, went toMaidstone to join up but was sent away as too old: "My generation felt they'd missed theFirst War, now was the time tomake up."[12] He was called into theMinistry of Information, which he called "a most appalling set-up", and joined the army as a private. He joined theCorps of Military Police and was commissioned on theGeneral List in May 1940.[13] He transferred to theIntelligence Corps as a lieutenant in June 1942.[14] Having spent two years as a Regimental Intelligence Officer in Britain, he was in 1942 recruited byMI6 and was posted toLourenço Marques, the capital ofMozambique, as a bogus vice-consul (called a Special Correspondent byLondon Controlling Section).[15] Before heading out, Muggeridge stayed in Lisbon for some months, waiting for his visa to come through.[16] He stayed inEstoril at the Pensão Royal on 17 May 1942.[17]
His mission was to prevent information about Allied convoys off the coast of Africa falling into enemy hands.[18] He wrote later that he also attempted suicide.[19] After the Allied occupation ofNorth Africa, he was posted toAlgiers as liaison officer with the Frenchsécurité militaire.[ambiguous] At the time of theliberation, in that capacity, he was sent to Paris and worked alongsideCharles de Gaulle'sFree French Forces. He had a high regard for de Gaulle and considered him a greater man thanChurchill.[20] He was warned to expect some anti-British feeling in Paris because of theattack on Mers-el-Kébir. In fact, Muggeridge, speaking on theBBC retrospective programmeMuggeridge: Ancient & Modern, said that he had encountered no such feeling and indeed had been allowed on occasion to eat and drink for nothing atMaxim's. He was assigned to make an initial investigation intoP. G. Wodehouse's five broadcasts from Berlin during the war. Though he was prepared to dislike Wodehouse, the interview became the start of a lifelong friendship and publishing relationship as well as the subject for several plays. He also interviewedCoco Chanel in Paris about the nature of her involvement with the Nazis inVichy France during the war.[21] Muggeridge ended the war as amajor, having received theCroix de Guerre from the French government for undisclosed reasons.[22]
Muggeridge wrote for theEvening Standard and also forThe Daily Telegraph where he was appointed deputy editor in 1950. He kept detailed diaries, which provide a vivid picture of the journalistic and political London of the day, including regular contact withGeorge Orwell,Anthony Powell,Graham Greene andBill Deedes; and he comments perceptively onIan Fleming,Guy Burgess andKim Philby.
When George Orwell died in 1950, Muggeridge and Anthony Powell organized Orwell's funeral.[23]
Muggeridge also acted as Washington correspondent forThe Daily Telegraph. He was editor ofPunch magazine from 1953 to 1957, a challenging appointment for one who claimed that "there is no occupation more wretched than trying to make the English laugh". One of his first acts was to sack the illustratorE. H. Shepard.[24] In 1957, he received public and professional opprobrium for criticism of theBritish monarchy in a US magazine,The Saturday Evening Post. The article was given the title "Does England Really Need a Queen?", and its publication was delayed by five months to coincide with the Royal State Visit toWashington, DC taking place later that year. It was little more than a rehash of views expressed in a 1955 article,Royal Soap Opera, but its timing caused outrage in the UK, and a contract withBeaverbrook Newspapers was cancelled. His notoriety then propelled him into becoming better known as a broadcaster, with regular appearances on the BBC'sPanorama, and a reputation as a tough interviewer. Encounters withBrendan Behan andSalvador Dalí cemented his reputation as a fearless critic of modern life.
Muggeridge was described as having predatory behaviour towards women during his BBC years.[25] He was described as a "compulsive groper", reportedly being nicknamed "The Pouncer" and as "a man fully deserving of the acronym NSIT—not safe in taxis". His niece confirmed these reports, while also reflecting on the suffering inflicted on his family and saying that he changed his behaviour when he converted to Christianity in the 1960s.[26]
In the early 1960s, Muggeridge became avegetarian so that he would be "free to denounce those horriblefactory farms where animals are raised for food".[27]
He took to frequently denouncing the new sexual laxity of theSwinging Sixties on radio and television. He particularly railed against "pills and pot":birth control pills andcannabis.
In contrast, he metthe Beatles before they were famous: On 7 June 1961 he flew to Hamburg for an interview with theStern magazine and afterwards went out on the town and ended up at theTop Ten Club on theReeperbahn. In his diary, he described their performance as "bashing their instruments, and emitting nerveless sounds into microphones". However, they recognised him from the television and they entered into conversation. He acknowledged that "their faces [were] like Renaissance carvings of the saints or Blessed Virgins".[28]
His book,Tread Softly for You Tread on My Jokes (1966), though acerbic in its wit, revealed a serious view of life. The title is an allusion to the last line of the poemAedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven byWilliam Butler Yeats: "Tread softly because you tread on my dreams." In 1967, he preached atGreat St Mary's,Cambridge, and again in 1970.
Having been electedRector ofEdinburgh University, Muggeridge was goaded[29][clarification needed] by the editor ofThe Student,Anna Coote, to support the call for contraceptive pills to be available at the University Health Centre. He used a sermon atSt Giles' Cathedral in January 1968 to resign the post to protest against theStudents' Representative Council's views on "pot and pills". The sermon was published under the title "Another King".
Muggeridge resigned as a judge for the 1971Booker Prize because of his "general lack of sympathy with entries for this year's Booker Prize" and was replaced on the panel byPhilip Toynbee.[30]
Muggeridge was also known for his wit and profound writings often at odds with the opinions of the day. "Never forget that only dead fish swim with the stream", he liked to quote. He wrote two volumes of an autobiography calledChronicles of Wasted Time (the title is a quotation[31] fromShakespeare's sonnet106). The first volume (1972) wasThe Green Stick. The second volume (1973) wasThe Infernal Grove. A projected third volume,The Right Eye, covering the postwar period, was never completed.
Agnostic for most of his life, Muggeridge became a ProtestantChristian, publishingJesus Rediscovered in 1969, a collection of essays, articles and sermons on faith, which became a best seller.Jesus: The Man Who Lives followed in 1976, which was a more substantial work describing the gospel in his own words. InA Third Testament, he profiles seven spiritual thinkers, whom he called "God's Spies", who influenced his life:Augustine of Hippo,William Blake,Blaise Pascal,Leo Tolstoy,Dietrich Bonhoeffer,Søren Kierkegaard, andFyodor Dostoevsky. He also produced several BBC religious documentaries, includingIn the Footsteps of St. Paul.[citation needed]
Muggeridge became a leading figure in theNationwide Festival of Light in 1971 protesting against the commercial exploitation of sex and violence in Britain and advocating the teaching of Christ as the key to recovering moral stability in the nation. He said at the time: "The media today—press, television, and radio—are largely in the hands of those who favour the presentGadarene slide into decadence and Godlessness."[32]
In 1979, along withMervyn Stockwood, theBishop of Southwark, Muggeridge appeared on the chat showFriday Night, Saturday Morning to discuss the filmLife of Brian with Monty Python membersJohn Cleese andMichael Palin.[33] Although the Python members gave reasons that they believed the film to be neither anti-Christian nor mocking the person ofJesus, both Muggeridge and the bishop insisted that they were being disingenuous and that the film was anti-Christian andblasphemous. Muggeridge further declared their film to be "buffoonery", "tenth-rate", "this miserable little film" and "this little squalid number". Furthermore, Muggeridge stated that there was "nothing in this film that could possibly destroy anybody's genuine faith"; in saying this, the Pythons were quick to point out the futility of criticising it so vitriolically since Muggeridge did not think it was significant enough to affect anyone. According to Palin, Muggeridge arrived late for the film and missed the two scenes in which Jesus and Brian were distinguished as different people. The discussion was moderated byTim Rice, the lyricist for the musicalJesus Christ Superstar, which had also generated some controversy in Britain about a decade earlier over its depiction of Jesus.
The comedians later expressed disappointment in Muggeridge, whom all inMonty Python had previously respected as a satirist. Cleese said that his reputation had "plummeted" in his eyes, and Palin commented, "He was just being Muggeridge, preferring to have a very strong contrary opinion as opposed to none at all".[34]
In 1982, at 79, Muggeridge was received into theCatholic Church after he had rejected Anglicanism,[35] like his wife, Kitty. This was largely under the influence ofMother Teresa about whom he had written a book,Something Beautiful for God, setting out and interpreting her life.[36][37] His last book,Conversion (1988), describes his life as a 20th century pilgrimage, a spiritual journey.
Muggeridge died on 14 November 1990 in a nursing home inHastings, England, at the age of 87. He had suffered a stroke three years earlier.[citation needed]
An eponymousliterary society was established on 24 March 2003, the occasion of his centenary, and it publishes a quarterly newsletter,The Gargoyle.[38] The Malcolm Muggeridge Society, based in Britain, is progressively republishing his works. Muggeridge's papers are in the Special Collections atWheaton College,Illinois, US.
In November 2008, on the 75th anniversary of the Ukraine famine, both Muggeridge andGareth Jones were posthumously awarded the Ukrainian Order of Merit III Class to mark their exceptional services to the country and its people.[39][40]
In an interview on theEric Metaxas Radio Show, Christian apologistRavi Zacharias identified Malcolm Muggeridge andG. K. Chesterton as two important influencers in his life.[41]
A week following Muggeridge's death,William F. Buckley Jr. wrote a tribute published inThe Washington Post.[42] Buckley, in an interview onC-SPAN, described Muggeridge as "a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful man, a great wit and a brilliant, brilliant analyst."[43]: begins at 00:18:53
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | I'm All Right Jack | T.V. Panel Chairman | |
| 1963 | Heavens Above! | Cleric | |
| 1966 | Alice in Wonderland | Gryphon | |
| 1967 | Herostratus | Radio Presenter | Voice |
| Media offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Deputy Editor ofThe Daily Telegraph 1950–1953 | Succeeded by |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by | Rector of the University of Edinburgh 1966–1969 | Succeeded by |
