Robert Maxwell
Ian Robert Maxwell MC (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, politician, fraudster, and the father of the convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell.
After escaping the Nazi occupation of his native country, Maxwell joined the Czechoslovak Army in exile during World War II and was decorated after active service in the British Army. In subsequent years he worked in publishing, building up Pergamon Press to a major academic publisher. After six years as a Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) between 1964 and 1970, Maxwell again put all his energy into business, successively buying the British Printing Corporation, Mirror Group Newspapers and Macmillan Publishers, among other publishing companies.
In November 1991, his body was discovered floating in the Atlantic Ocean, having apparently fallen overboard from his yacht. Maxwell embezzled hundreds of millions of pounds from his own companies' pension funds, the details only became known after his death.
Quotes[edit]
- I can't get on with men [...] or perhaps it might be truer to say that they can't get on with me. They were not very friendly in the Commons, I suppose it was because I was a bit brash; in fact I know I was. I was impatient with the slow archaic procedure.
- I tried having male assistants at first [...] But it didn't work. They tend to be too independent; men like to have individuality. Women can become an extension of the boss. They don't mind working overtime, they are more loyal and they can take criticism better. [...] Women are also more efficient than men. I want perfection, and I do my best to get it—so I have trained them myself.
- Britain will never have a woman Prime Minister because women are frightened to take on supreme power.
- Interviewed by Stella King for her series "Men Talking About Women", The Times (23 October 1968), p. 8
