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| The other side of Bob, the bully
thief |
Fourteen years after his death, a play at the
New End Theatre may rehabilitate Robert Maxwell, writes Tom Foot
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Philip York as Robert Maxwell
Author Dale Djerassi
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DID he jump? Did he fall? Was he pushed? For the many mugged
by Robert Maxwell at The Mirror, the answer was not important. They
were just glad he was gone.
Few historical figures have incited that taboo phenomenon: the celebration
of death. But Maxwell did. One journalist wrote: “On a glorious
Guy Fawkes day in 1991, Maxwell was found dead in the sea after
falling off his yacht near the Canary Islands.”
Maxwell resurfaces at the New End Theatre in Lies Have Been Told
thanks to his son in law, Dale Djerassi.
Djerassi – a Hollywood director and son of Carl, the man who
invented the contraceptive pill – saw the play at this year’s
Edinburgh Fringe.
He liked it so much that he bought a stake in the play and options
on the film and television rights.
He is one of the few men on the planet to openly admit liking the
man, and he believes, whatever your preconceptions of Maxwell, this
one-man show will make you think again.
He says: “The play will make you think more fully about him.
I did like the man, I have to say – I don’t know what
that says about me.”
Born into extreme poverty in Czechoslovakia in 1923, Maxwell rose
to fame and fortune before falling spectacularly.
After his death it emerged he had robbed in excess of £400
million from the workers at the Mirror, either from their company
or from their pension fund.
How did this happen?
In 1971, Maxwell was declared unfit to run a public company by a
DTI report. “He is not in our opinion a person who can be relied
on to exercise proper stewardship of a publicly quoted company,”
it said. But despite this, he became chairman of one of the biggest
public companies in the UK, the British Publishing Corporation,
in 1980.
In July 1984, he took over the Daily Mirror and immediately set
about breaking trade unions and sacking editors and journalists
who stood up to him. Maxwell was on top of the world. But the boom
of the 1980s did not last forever. The recession of the 1990s pushed
Maxwell over the edge.
In 1991, he floated MGN as a public company, desperate to raise
cash because the rest of the company was veering towards bankruptcy
with debts of over £2 billion.
His death in November 1991 at the age of 68 initially prompted a
series of eulogies for his achievements.
But in the weeks that followed more news emerged that he had taken
£440 million from pension funds to keep his companies afloat
and boost the share price.
Roy Greenslade, ex-editor of the Mirror, described his appalling
legacy. He wrote: “His evil had touched countless thousands
of people, hundreds of companies, scores of institutions, and his
family.”
One of those family members was Isabel Maxwell, who was living in
California at the time with her husband, Dale Djerassi.
He says: “We were relatively removed being out in the US. But
it was a horrible experience for everyone concerned.”
Written by Rod Beacham, directed by Alan Dossor and starring Philip
York, Lies Have Been Told, tells the full Maxwell story.
Djerassi’s own friendship with Maxwell began when he visited
the Labour Party conference in Brighton in 1981. He met a girl who
he took to a posh restaurant in Knightsbridge. There was Maxwell
tucking into his dinner. He went up to him and after an hour talking
was invited to stay at Maxwell’s stately home, Heddington Hill
Hall, in Oxford. “He was a bully. I’m not denying that,”
says Djerassi. “But he was also charismatic. He created the
first proper scientific publishing company, Pergamon Press, which
made a huge contribution to scientific world.
“He loved people and countries – in spite of his faults
and his bullying ways, I think he did have those attributes. This
is a man who didn’t have a pair of shoes until he was seven,
born into absolute poverty, escaped the Nazis, fought for England
in the War and became an MP and publisher. After 14 years it’s
okay to take another look at him.”
The play covers Maxwell’s entire life story, including the
lesser-known acts of bravery and his contribution to science. “He
did die on that yacht,” says Djerassi, “but whether he
jumped, swam or was pushed I’m not going to say. I’m not
going to say how, but the play addresses the mystery.”
• Lies Have Been Told is at the New End Theatre, Hampstead,
until December 3. Box office: 0870 033 2733. |
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