Ivan Julian Massow was born on 11 September 1967 and is a British financial services entrepreneur, gay rights campaigner, and media personality.
33 Facts About Ivan Massow
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Ivan Massow is a former chairman of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.
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Ivan Massow has been active in UK politics, formerly as a member of the Conservative Party and since 2016 in the Liberal Democrats.
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Ivan Massow is Master of the Southdown and Eridge Hunt.
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In 1990 Ivan Massow moved to London and started his own financial services business.
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Ivan Massow took the role of chairman while Louis Letourneau, who had run Rainbow Finance, became managing director.
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In 2001 Ivan Massow set up Jake, an online social networking site for gay professionals.
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Between 2003 and 2004 Ivan Massow was director of another financial adviser firm, this time a tied agent of the Zurich Advice Network.
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Ivan Massow defended the business model of the firm from suggestions that it would not be viable following changes to financial regulation in the UK due to start on 1 January 2013; however, it ceased trading in August 2013 when the government banned commission rendering its services obsolete.
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In 1999, Ivan Massow became Chairman of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.
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Ivan Massow was brought in by Director Philip Dodd to increase sponsorship and patronage for the organisation.
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The situation deteriorated irreparably when in January 2002 Ivan Massow wrote an article in New Statesman magazine, attacking the predominance of conceptual art in the art world.
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Ivan Massow called the ICA a "pillar of the shock establishment".
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Ivan Massow attacked Tracey Emin saying she "couldn't think her way out of a paper bag", though he admitted this comment was "a little below the belt".
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In February 2002, Ivan Massow resigned as Chairman of the ICA, after the board unanimously requested him to.
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Ivan Massow's views have engendered strong feelings about him amongst the art world; a year after his resignation one artist commented that "they treat him like the Black Death round here", although Massow has received less vocal support from many artists who fear they will never achieve recognition unless they follow the conceptual route.
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Ivan Massow collects figurative contemporary art and claims that he visits art colleges and artists' studios regularly.
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Ivan Massow has personally provided regular financial support for some artists, to assist them in their lives and work.
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Ivan Massow was first attracted to the politics of the Conservative Party when he was a boy.
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Ivan Massow joined his local Young Conservatives and at age 14 became its chairman, the youngest in the country at the time.
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In 2000, following John Bercow MP's resignation from the front bench and the defection of Shaun Woodward MP to Labour, Ivan Massow too left the Conservative Party to join the Labour Party, where he was welcomed by Mo Mowlam.
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Ivan Massow is pro-hunting and in 2003 was depicted in full hunting gear in a portrait by Darren Coffield, exhibited at the National Portrait gallery.
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Ivan Massow became head of the Conservative Technology Initiative for London in 2012.
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Ivan Massow joined the Liberal Democrats in September 2016, in protest at the Conservative Party's post-Brexit vote stance.
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In November 2005, Ivan Massow was the winning mentor on Channel 4's Make Me a Million.
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Ivan Massow produced the film Banksy's Coming For Dinner, starring Joan Collins.
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In 2013 Ivan Massow was a significant part of Derren Brown's The Great Art Robbery for Channel 4, in which Brown taught a group of old age pensioners how to get away with a robbery using various techniques such as how to stay unnoticed as well as controlling fear and nerves.
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In 2016 Ivan Massow featured in the Channel 4 documentary "Rich Brother, Poor Brother" along with his estranged younger brother David.
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Ivan Massow has raised funds for charity and founded the April Bombing Appeal for victims of the April 1999 nail-bombings in Soho, Brixton and Brick Lane in London.
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In March 2010, in partnership with Oxfam and Beat That Quote, Ivan Massow developed Compare for Good, a charity fundraising price comparison website which promised to pay more than two-thirds of the money raised by the site to Oxfam.
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Ivan Massow began to drink heavily and became an alcoholic.
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In 2010 Ivan Massow developed an aneurysm and became seriously ill.
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Ivan Massow required urgent hospital treatment, including at one point having to be operated on without anaesthetic, which saved his life.