30 Facts About Robert Maxwell

1. Robert Maxwell was impossible to work for, a mercurial man with a monstrous ego.

2. Robert Maxwell had haunted me for the previous 23 months and I couldn't believe he had vanished in an instant.

3. Robert Maxwell was missing from his yacht, which had not gone down.

4. Robert Maxwell now lives in Bend, Oregon, and is the only living Medal of Honor recipient in that state.

5. Robert Maxwell was born on October 26, 1920 in Boise, Idaho.

6. Robert Maxwell dabbled in politics, becoming a Labourite member of Parliament.

7. In 1991, facing financial difficulties, Robert Maxwell drowned while yachting off the Canary Islands.

8. Robert Maxwell fought in World War II in the British army, then began a career in publishing.

9. On November 11, 1991, Robert Maxwell died at sea off the Canary Islands, falling overboard from his yacht, Lady Ghislaine.

10. In 1990 Robert Maxwell added three US tabloids to his holdings—the Globe, Sun, and National Enquirer, copies of all three sold exclusively in supermarkets.

11. In 1984 Robert Maxwell purchased his first newspapers, the Mirror Group, including the Daily Mirror.

12. Robert Maxwell presented an anomaly as a parliamentary member of the Labour Party.

13. Robert Maxwell purchased Simpkin Marshall, an almost defunct wholesale book selling company.

14. Robert Maxwell was born on June 10, 1923, in the small village of Solotvino in the Carpathian mountains of what was then eastern Czechoslovakia.

15. Prime Minister John Major said Robert Maxwell had given him "valuable insights" into the situation in the Soviet Union during the attempted coup of 1991.

16. Robert Maxwell was buried on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.

17. Robert Maxwell took out several libel actions against Private Eye, one resulting in the magazine losing an estimated £225,000 and Maxwell using his commercial power to hit back with a one-off spoof magazine Not Private Eye.

18. Robert Maxwell attempted to buy Manchester United in 1984, but refused owner Martin Edwards's asking price.

19. Robert Maxwell was the chairman of Oxford United, saving them from bankruptcy and attempting to merge them with Reading in 1983 to form a club he wished to call "Thames Valley Royals".

20. Robert Maxwell purchased Macmillan, the American publishing firm, during 1988 for $2.6 billion.

21. In June 1985, Robert Maxwell announced a takeover of Sir Clive Sinclair's ailing home computer company, Sinclair Research, through Hollis Brothers, a Pergamon Press subsidiary.

22. Robert Maxwell wrote, "This is a British paper, run by British people.

23. Robert Maxwell contested Buckingham again in both 1974 general elections, but without success.

24. Robert Maxwell gave an interview to The Times in 1968, in which he said the House of Commons provided him with a problem.

25. In 1964, representing the Labour Party, Robert Maxwell was elected as Member of Parliament for Buckingham and re-elected in 1966.

26. Robert Maxwell gained a commission in 1945 and was promoted to the rank of captain.

27. Robert Maxwell was then involved in action across Europe, from the Normandy beaches to Berlin, and achieved the rank of sergeant.

28. Robert Maxwell was born into a poor Yiddish-speaking Orthodox Jewish family in the small town of Slatinske Doly in the easternmost province of pre-World War II Czechoslovakia.

29. Robert Maxwell was notably litigious and often embroiled in controversy, including about his support for Israel at the time of the 1948 Palestine war.

30. Robert Maxwell had a flamboyant lifestyle, living in Headington Hill Hall in Oxford, from which he often flew in his helicopter, and sailing in his luxury yacht, the Lady Ghislaine.