Dead Socialist Watch, #311
And while we’re on the subject of the New Statesman, here’s Kingsley Martin, who edited the thing for thirty years, 1930-1960, back in the days when it was a moderately important publication. Born Hereford, 28 July 1897; died in Cairo, 16 February 1969.
How did he come to be in Cairo?
↓ Quote | Posted 16 February, 2008, 1:10 pmHis ODNB entry ends:
“Already ailing, Kingsley Martin rashly accepted an invitation to stay with the Indian ambassador in Egypt. He suffered a stroke and was rushed to the Anglo-American Hospital in Cairo, where he died of a heart attack on 16 February 1969. He donated his body for medical research. Martin’s legacy was the New Statesman’s continued claim to be Britain’s pre-eminent political weekly, but even before his untimely death that reputation was already starting to fade.”
It also stresses that he was a keen chess player.
↓ Quote | Posted 16 February, 2008, 1:53 pmYeah, a chap called Heinz Fraenkel wrote the NS chess column for a very long time.
↓ Quote | Posted 16 February, 2008, 3:12 pmWas that a pseudonym of Martin’s, or is the point that the NS had a chess column when he was editing it?
↓ Quote | Posted 16 February, 2008, 3:47 pmNo, it was a real chap. Who used the pseudonym Assiac.
It continued to have a chess column for quite a while after Martin -I believe the late Tony Miles used to write it for a while.
↓ Quote | Posted 16 February, 2008, 7:46 pm