Claud Cockburn

Patrick Claud Cockburn (pronounced coburn) (1904-1981) was a renowned radical British journalist, who was controversial for his communist sympathies.

Related Topics:
British - Communist

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He was the cousin of novelist Evelyn Waugh.

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The son of a diplomat, Cockburn was born in China in 1904.

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After obtaining a degree from Oxford University he became a journalist with The Times.

Related Topics:
Oxford University - The Times

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He worked as a foreign correspondent in Germany and the United States before resigning in 1933 to start up his own newsletter, The Week.

Related Topics:
Germany - United States - The Week

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Under the name Frank Pitcairn, Cockburn also contributed to the British communist newspaper the Daily Worker. In 1936, Harry Pollitt, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain, asked him to cover the Spanish Civil War for the newspaper.

Related Topics:
Communist Party of Great Britain - Spanish Civil War

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When he arrived in Spain he joined the Fifth Regiment so that he could report the war as an ordinary soldier.

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While in Spain he published Reporter in Spain.

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Cockburn was attacked by George Orwell in his book Homage to Catalonia (1938). Orwell accused Cockburn of being under the control of the Communist Party and was particularly critical of the way Cockburn reported the May Riots in Barcelona. Cockburn helped spread propaganda that Hitler and Mussolini had planned the revolt, leading to its suppression.

Related Topics:
George Orwell - Barcelona - Propaganda - Hitler - Mussolini

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According to the editor of a volume of his writings on Spain, Claud Cockburn formed a close personal relationship with Mikhail Koltsov, "then the foreign editor of Pravda and at that time, in Cockburn's view, 'the confidant and mouthpiece and direct agent of Stalin in Spain'."

Related Topics:
Mikhail Koltsov - Pravda

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During the Second World War, Cockburn was a strong opponent of appeasement and the government banned The Week. The journal ceased publication shortly after the war.

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In 1947, Cockburn moved to Ireland but continued to contribute to various newspapers and journals, including a weekly column for The Irish Times.

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Among his novels were Beat the Devil (originally published under the pseudonym James Helvick), made into a well-known film directed by John Huston with script credit to Truman Capote, The Horses, Ballantyne's Folly, and Jericho Road.

Related Topics:
John Huston - Truman Capote

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He also published several other books including Bestseller, an exploration of English popular fiction, Aspects of English History (1957), The Devil's Decade (1973), his history of the 1930s, and Union Power (1976).

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His first volume of his memoirs were first published as In Time of Trouble (1956) in the UK and as A Discord of Trumpets in the US. This was followed by Crossing the Line (1958), and A View from the West (1961). Revised, these were published by Penguin as I Claud in 1967. Again revised and shortened, with a new chapter, they were republished as Cockburn Sums Up shortly before he died.

Related Topics:
UK - US

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Claud Cockburn was married three times: to Hope Hale Davis, with whom he fathered the late Claudia Flanders; to Jean Ross (part model for Christopher Isherwood's Sally Bowles), with whom he fathered the late Sarah Caudwell Cockburn, author of detective stories; and to Patricia Cockburn (who also wrote an autobiography, Figure of Eight), with whom he fathered Alexander, Andrew, and Patrick, all three of whom are also journalists. His grandaughter is The O.C. actress Olivia Wilde.

Related Topics:
Christopher Isherwood - Alexander - Andrew - Patrick - The O.C. - Olivia Wilde

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