Erik de Mauny

Erik Cecil Leon de Mauny
Born (1920-09-17)17 September 1920
London, England
Died 18 March 1997(1997-03-18) (aged 76)
Lancaster, England
Nationality English
Occupation
Known for BBC's first Moscow correspondent

Erik Cecil Leon de Mauny (17 September 1920 – 18 March 1997) was an English journalist and author and the BBC's first Moscow correspondent, working for them there from 1963, and as a foreign correspondent in other countries.

Early life

de Mauny was born in London on 17 September 1920, to professional musicians.[1]

He obtained a degree in Russian at the School of Slavonic Studies.[1] He worked for the BBC from 1949, in External Services News (1949–1955), as foreign duty editor (1955–1958), correspondent in Vienna and Balkans (1958), Middle East (based in Beirut, 1958–1960), and Washington, D.C. (1960–1963).[1][2] He reported from Cuba following the Bay of Pigs episode.[1]

Moscow

The BBC had been attempting to secure permission from the USSR to base a correspondent in Moscow since at least World War II, but had always been rebuffed.[2] They finally received permission in 1963, under the relatively relaxed era of Nikita Khrushchev's presidency.[2]

Upon appointment, de Mauny purchased a full-length suede coat from Moss Bros, and took with him a pair of RAF flying boots, as protection against the cold.[2] The BBC provided him with a dark green Humber Super Snipe car, adapted for use in cold weather.[2]

The following year, he secured an interview with the exiled spy, Kim Philby, confirming the latter's presence in Moscow,[2] and covered the fall of Khrushchev.[1]

While in the USSR, his activities were severely limited. He was required to obtain permission to travel more than a few miles outside Moscow.[2] To communicate with London he had to book telephone lines hours in advance.[2] The bookings were not always honoured.[2]

He moved from Moscow to the BBC's Paris bureau in 1966.[2] He returned as the Moscow correspondent in 1972.[2] In 1974, he reported the arrest of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, writer and dissident.[2]

Later career

de Mauny finally left Moscow in 1974.[1] He was a BBC Foreign Duty Editor (1974–1977) and then Special Correspondent for working for Radio 4's The World Tonight (1977–1980).[1]

Personal life

de Mauny married Denyse Aghion, an Egyptian, in 1950; the marriage was annulled and dissolved in 1969.[1] The annulment allowed de Mauny, a convert to Catholicism, to marry his second wife, Elizabeth Bower,[1] also a journalist,[2] and daughter of Commander Robert Tatton Bower, Conservative MP for Cleveland.[1] The couple's son, Marc de Mauny (born c. 1971), is a musician who studied at St Petersburg Conservatory and as of 2013 was general manager and executive producer of the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre at Perm in Russia.[2] They also had a daughter.[1] Both children were born in France, where the couple initially lived after retirement.[1]

He died in Lancaster on 18 March 1997.[1]

Bibliography

de Mauny also wrote an unpublished autobiography, Shouting Through the Static. He wrote regular reviews for the Times Literary Supplement.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Miall, Leonard (20 March 1997). "Obituary: Erik de Mauny". The Independent. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Rosenberg, Steve (21 October 2013). "The BBC's first Man in Moscow". BBC Online. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
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