William Francis Deedes, Baron Deedes, KBE,MC,PC (1 June 1913 – 17 August 2007) was a British Conservative politician, army officer and journalist. He was the first person in Britain to have been both a member of the Cabinet and the editor of a major daily newspaper, The Daily Telegraph.
Early life
Deedes was born in Hampstead in 1913, the second child and only son of landowner Herbert William Deedes and his wife Melesina Gladys, daughter of Philip Francis Chenevix Trench.[1] His younger sister Margaret Melesina married the 21st Baron FitzWalter.[2] He was brought up in the family home of Saltwood Castle until it was sold in 1925. He was educated at Harrow until after his father, who had struggled to manage the family's wealth for years, suffered heavy financial losses from the Wall Street Crash of 1929 which eradicated their remaining fortunes.[3]
Journalism
Due to the lack of funds, Deedes was forced to leave school a year early and finish his exams with a tutor.[4] After failing to get into a university, Deedes began his career as a reporter on the Morning Post in 1931, joining The Daily Telegraph when it took over the Post in 1937. Between 1931 and the beginning of the Second World War in 1939, he shared a home in Bethnal Green, with his uncle Wyndham Deedes.[1]
Deedes came from a family with a tradition of public service. He was very proud of the fact that there had been a Deedes member of parliament in every century since 1600.[6]
Deedes was editor of The Daily Telegraph from 1974 to 1986 and, after he was replaced by Max Hastings, continued his career as a journalist. His tenure was noted for battles with the print unions.[1]
After the 1999 Australian republic referendum, Deedes wrote in The Daily Telegraph: "I have rarely attended elections in any country, certainly not a democratic one, in which the newspapers have displayed more shameless bias. One and all, they determined that Australians should have a republic and they used every device towards that end."[7]
He continued to comment on social and political issues through his newspaper columns until his death. In his later years, he gained a cult fanbase after two memorable appearances on Have I Got News for You and was, at the age of 88, the oldest guest ever to have appeared on the programme until 2012, when Baroness Trumpington appeared at the age of 90.
He was also a stalwart member of the Carlton Club and was appointed as an ambassador for UNICEF in 1998, running high-profile campaigns against landmines. In 2006, he wrote in an opinion piece for The Daily Telegraph that Islam "is the only faith on Earth that persuades its followers to seek political power and impose a law – sharia – which shapes everyone's style of life" and added that Islam "forbids" Muslims from conforming with British society.[8] He continued to write into his 94th year, with his final article, published on 3 August 2007, about Darfur.[9]
Personal life
Deedes was married to Evelyn Hilary Branfoot, who died in May 2004, by whom he had two sons (one of whom died young) and three daughters, Juliet, Jill and Lucy.[6] A convinced Christian like his father, he lived very unpretentiously on the edge of Romney Marsh, Kent, where his wife, Hilary, kept a menagerie of farm animals. He was never particularly well-off, preferring to use public transport whenever possible.[6]
Deedes died from bronchopneumonia at his home in Aldington on 17 August 2007, at the age of 94.[1][13][14] There is a residential street named for him in the village, called Bill Deedes Way.
Popular culture
Scoop
According to many sources, Deedes was the journalist used by Evelyn Waugh as the model and inspiration for the hapless William Boot, protagonist of the satirical novel Scoop. Deedes himself said he "spent part of my life brushing aside the charge", but admitted "that my inexperience and naivety as a reporter in Africa might have contributed a few bricks to the building of Boot."[15] The two had reported together in 1936, trying to cover the Second Italo-Abyssinian War; Deedes arrived in Addis Ababa aged 22 with almost 600 pounds of luggage.[16] Berhanu Kebele, Ethiopian ambassador to London, pointed out that Deedes's sharp journalistic instincts ensured Italian excesses were kept in the public eye.[17]
Barring the question of age, a more appropriate model for Boot is William Beach Thomas who, according to Peter Stothard, "was a quietly successful countryside columnist and literary gent who became a calamitous Daily Mail war correspondent" in World War I.[18]
"Dear Bill"
Deedes was close to Margaret Thatcher and her husband Denis. The spoof letters "from" Mr. Thatcher which appeared in satirical magazine Private Eye throughout the Thatcher years were always addressed to Dear Bill – the "Bill" in question was usually assumed to be Deedes; however some instalments (e.g. 16 May and 28 November 1986) would suggest otherwise. The two men regularly played golf together, with Deedes saying it was a public service to take the spouse of the Prime Minister away from the stress of being married to the country's head of government. The Eye also based its long-running editorial comment, "Shome mishtake shurely?", on Deedes' distinctive slur.[19]
Publications
Swift and Bold: The Story of the King's Royal Rifle Corps in the Second World War 1939-1945, coedited with Sir Hereward Wake, Aldershot: Gale & Polden, 1949
At War with Waugh: The Real Story of "Scoop", Macmillan, 2003 ISBN1-4050-0573-4
British Army
Military Cross
