# Bill Deedes

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{{Short description|British politician (1913–2007)}}
{{Similar names|William Deedes (disambiguation){{!}}William Deedes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = [The Right Honourable](/source/The_Right_Honourable)
| name             = The Lord Deedes
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|KBE|MC|PC|size=100%}}
| image            = William-Francis-Deedes-Baron-Deedes.jpg
| office           = [Minister without Portfolio](/source/Minister_without_portfolio_(United_Kingdom))
| term_start       = 13 July 1962
| term_end         = 16 October 1964
| prime_minister   = {{ubl|[Harold Macmillan](/source/Harold_Macmillan)|[Alec Douglas-Home](/source/Alec_Douglas-Home)}}
| predecessor      = [The Lord Mills](/source/Percy_Mills%2C_1st_Viscount_Mills)
| successor        = [Eric Fletcher](/source/Eric_Fletcher%2C_Baron_Fletcher)
| office1          = Parliamentary Secretary to the [Ministry of Housing and Local Government](/source/Ministry_of_Housing_and_Local_Government)
| term_start1      = 18 October 1954
| term_end1        = 20 December 1955
| prime_minister1  = {{ubl|[Winston Churchill](/source/Winston_Churchill)|[Anthony Eden](/source/Anthony_Eden)}}
| predecessor1     = [Ernest Marples](/source/Ernest_Marples)
| successor1       = [Enoch Powell](/source/Enoch_Powell)
| office2          = Member of the [House of Lords](/source/House_of_Lords)
| status2          = [Lord Temporal](/source/Lord_Temporal)
| term_label2      = [Life peer](/source/Life_peer)age
| term_start2      = 23 September 1986
| term_end2        = 17 August 2007
| parliament3      = United Kingdom
| constituency_MP3 = [Ashford](/source/Ashford_(UK_Parliament_constituency))
| term_start3      = 23 February 1950
| term_end3        = 20 September 1974
| predecessor3     = [Edward Percy Smith](/source/Edward_Percy_Smith)
| successor3       = [Keith Speed](/source/Keith_Speed)
| birth_name       = William Francis Deedes
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1913|06|1|df=y}}
| birth_place      = [Hampstead](/source/Hampstead), London, England
| death_date       = {{death date and age|2007|08|17|1913|6|1|df=y}}
| death_place      = [Aldington, Kent](/source/Aldington%2C_Kent), England
| party            = [Conservative](/source/Conservative_Party_(UK))
| spouse           = {{marriage|Evelyn Branfort||2004|end=d}}
| children         = 5
| education        = [Harrow School](/source/Harrow_School)
| relatives        = {{ubl|[Wyndham Deedes](/source/Wyndham_Deedes) (uncle)|[Drummond Money-Coutts](/source/Drummond_Money-Coutts) (grandson)}} Sophia Money-Coutts (granddaughter)
<!--Military service-->
| module           = {{Infobox military person
| embed=yes
| allegiance = <!-- United Kingdom -->
| branch = {{army|United Kingdom}}
| service_number = 90126
| service_years =[World War II](/source/World_War_II)
| rank = [Major](/source/Major_(United_Kingdom))
| battles = 
| awards = 35px [Military Cross](/source/Military_Cross)
}}
}}
'''William Francis Deedes, Baron Deedes''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|KBE|MC|PC}} (1 June 1913 – 17 August 2007) was a British [Conservative](/source/Conservative_Party_(UK)) politician, army officer and journalist. He was the first person in Britain to have been both a member of the Cabinet and the editor of a major daily newspaper, ''[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph)''.

==Early life ==
Deedes was born in [Hampstead](/source/Hampstead) in 1913, the second child and only son of landowner Herbert William Deedes and his wife Melesina Gladys, daughter of Philip Francis Chenevix Trench.<ref name = Worsthorne>{{cite ODNB|title = Deedes, William Francis [Bill], Baron Deedes (1913–2007), journalist and politician|doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/99004|last = Worsthorne|first = Peregrine|authorlink = Peregrine Worsthorne|date = 2011}}</ref> His younger sister Margaret Melesina married the 21st [Baron FitzWalter](/source/Baron_FitzWalter).<ref name="burke">{{cite book |title= [Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood](/source/Burke's_Peerage)|publisher=Burke's Peerage & Gentry |editor= Mosley, Charles |editor-link=Charles Mosley (genealogist) |edition=107 |year= 2003 |page=1067 |ref=Burke |isbn=0-9711966-2-1}}</ref> He was brought up in the family home of [Saltwood Castle](/source/Saltwood_Castle) until it was sold in 1925. He was educated at [Harrow](/source/Harrow_School) until after his father, who had struggled to manage the family's wealth for years, suffered heavy financial losses from the [Wall Street crash of 1929](/source/Wall_Street_crash_of_1929) which eradicated their remaining fortunes.<ref name = Obit>{{cite news|title = Lord Deedes|url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/1560496/Lord-Deedes.html|newspaper = The Daily Telegraph|date = 18 August 2007|page = 27|url-access = subscription}}</ref>

==Journalism==
Due to the lack of funds, Deedes was forced to leave school a year early and finish his exams with a tutor.<ref name="desert">{{cite web |title=Desert Island Discs – Lord Deedes – BBC Sounds |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p00948jc |website=[Desert Island Discs](/source/Desert_Island_Discs) |publisher=BBC Radio |access-date=15 March 2019}}</ref> After failing to get into a university, Deedes began his career as a reporter on the ''[Morning Post](/source/Morning_Post)'' in 1931, joining ''The Daily Telegraph'' when it took over the ''Post'' in 1937. Between 1931 and the beginning of the [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War) in 1939, he shared a home in [Bethnal Green](/source/Bethnal_Green), with his uncle [Wyndham Deedes](/source/Wyndham_Deedes).<ref name = Worsthorne/>

==War service==
Deedes fought with the [British Army](/source/British_Army) in the [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War), being based initially at [Shrapnel Barracks](/source/Shrapnel_Barracks) in [Woolwich](/source/Woolwich)<ref name="Deedes">{{cite book|last1=Deedes|first1=William|title=Words and Deedes: Selected Journalism 1931-2006|date=2013|publisher=Pan MacMillan|isbn=9780330541121|page=70}}</ref> as an [officer](/source/Officer_(armed_forces)) in the 2nd Battalion, [Queen's Westminsters](/source/Queen's_Westminsters), one of the [Territorial Army](/source/Army_Reserve_(United_Kingdom)) (TA) units of the [King's Royal Rifle Corps](/source/King's_Royal_Rifle_Corps), into which he was commissioned in June 1939.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=34637|page=4163|date=20 June 1939}}</ref>

He gained the [Military Cross](/source/Military_Cross) near [Hengelo](/source/Hengelo), the [Netherlands](/source/Netherlands) in April 1945.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=37172|page=3591|date=10 July 1945|supp=y}}</ref> He rose to the rank of [major](/source/Major_(United_Kingdom)) and was the only officer to serve in 12th King's Royal Rifle Corps (2nd Queen's Westminsters) for the duration of the war. His battalion served as the [motorised](/source/motorized_infantry) battalion of [8th Armoured Brigade](/source/8th_Armoured_Brigade_(United_Kingdom)) in the [North-west Europe campaign](/source/Western_Front_(World_War_II)).<ref name = Obit/>

==Politics==
Deedes came from a family with a tradition of public service. He was very proud of the fact that there had been a Deedes member of parliament in every century since 1600.<ref name="guardian"/>

Deedes was elected as the [Conservative](/source/Conservative_Party_(UK)) [Member of Parliament](/source/Member_of_Parliament_(United_Kingdom)) (MP) for [Ashford](/source/Ashford_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) in [1950](/source/1950_United_Kingdom_general_election). First serving as a [junior minister](/source/junior_minister) under [Winston Churchill](/source/Winston_Churchill) for three years, he later entered [Harold Macmillan's](/source/Harold_Macmillan) [Cabinet](/source/Conservative_Government_1957-1964) in 1962 as [Minister without Portfolio](/source/Minister_without_portfolio_(United_Kingdom)). He left the Cabinet in 1964, as [Minister of Information](/source/Minister_of_Information), and subsequently stood down as an MP at the [October 1974 election](/source/October_1974_United_Kingdom_general_election).<ref name="guardian"/>

==Editorship and Fleet Street==
Deedes was editor of ''[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph)'' from 1974 to 1986 and, after he was replaced by [Max Hastings](/source/Max_Hastings), continued his career as a journalist. His tenure was noted for battles with the print unions.<ref name = Worsthorne/>

After the [1999 Australian republic referendum](/source/1999_Australian_republic_referendum), Deedes wrote in ''The Daily Telegraph'': "I have rarely attended elections in any country, certainly not a democratic one, in which the newspapers have displayed more shameless bias. One and all, they determined that Australians should have a republic and they used every device towards that end."<ref>Deedes, Bill; ''The Daily Telegraph''; 8 November 1999</ref>

He continued to comment on social and political issues through his newspaper columns until his death. In his later years, he gained a cult fanbase after two memorable appearances on ''[Have I Got News for You](/source/Have_I_Got_News_for_You)'' and was, at the age of 88, the oldest guest ever to have appeared on the programme until 2012, when [Baroness Trumpington](/source/Baroness_Trumpington) appeared at the age of 90.

He was also a stalwart member of the [Carlton Club](/source/Carlton_Club) and was appointed as an ambassador for [UNICEF](/source/UNICEF) in 1998, running high-profile campaigns against [landmines](/source/landmines). In 2006, he wrote in an opinion piece for ''The Daily Telegraph'' that Islam "is the only faith on Earth that persuades its followers to seek political power and impose a law – [sharia](/source/sharia) – which shapes everyone's style of life" and added that Islam "forbids" Muslims from conforming with British society.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20061020231723/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2006/10/20/do2003.xml Muslims can never conform to our ways] – Daily Telegraph. 20 October 2006</ref> He continued to write into his 94th year, with his final article, published on 3 August 2007, about [Darfur](/source/Darfur).<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080317032917/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/08/03/do0308.xml Darfur is as bad as Nazi Germany – and I know] – ''[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph)''. 3 August 2007</ref>

==Personal life==
Deedes was married to Evelyn Hilary Branfoot, who died in May 2004, by whom he had two sons and three daughters.<ref name="guardian">{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/aug/18/guardianobituaries.obituaries1 | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Richard | last=Ingrams | title=Obituary: Lord Deedes | date=20 August 2007}}</ref> A convinced Christian like his father, he lived very unpretentiously on the edge of [Romney Marsh](/source/Romney_Marsh), Kent, where his wife, Hilary, kept a menagerie of farm animals. He was never particularly well-off, preferring to use public transport whenever possible.<ref name="guardian"/>

He was created a [life peer](/source/life_peer) on 23 September 1986, becoming '''Baron Deedes''', of [Aldington](/source/Aldington%2C_Kent) in the [County of Kent](/source/County_of_Kent),<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=50667 |date=26 September 1983 |page=12499}}</ref> but he always preferred to be addressed as "Bill", rather than "Lord Deedes".<ref name="desert"/> He was the subject of ''[This Is Your Life](/source/This_Is_Your_Life_(UK_TV_series))'' in 1998, when he was surprised by [Michael Aspel](/source/Michael_Aspel).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6254876/|publisher=IMDb|title=This Is Your Life: S39.E15 Bill Deedes|accessdate=26 September 2023}}</ref>

==Death==

Deedes died from [bronchopneumonia](/source/bronchopneumonia) at his home in Aldington on 17 August 2007, at the age of 94.<ref name = Worsthorne/><ref>{{cite news |last1=Fox |first1=Margalit |title=Bill Deedes, Journalist in Britain, Is Dead at 94 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/04/world/europe/04deedes.html |access-date=15 March 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=4 September 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6952387.stm |title=Journalist Lord Deedes dies at 94 |access-date=17 August 2007 |format=webpage |publisher=BBC News | date=17 August 2007}}</ref> There is a residential street named for him in the village, called Bill Deedes Way.

==Popular culture==

===''Scoop''===
According to many sources, Deedes was the journalist used by [Evelyn Waugh](/source/Evelyn_Waugh) as the model and inspiration for the hapless [William Boot](/source/William_Boot), protagonist of the satirical novel ''[Scoop](/source/Scoop_(novel))''. Deedes himself said he "spent part of my life brushing aside the charge", but admitted "that my inexperience and naivety as a reporter in Africa might have contributed a few bricks to the building of Boot."<ref>W. F. Deedes, ''At War With Waugh'' (London: Macmillan, 2003), pp. 102–103</ref> The two had reported together in 1936, trying to cover the [Second Italo-Abyssinian War](/source/Second_Italo-Abyssinian_War); Deedes arrived in [Addis Ababa](/source/Addis_Ababa) aged 22 with almost 600 pounds of luggage.<ref>W. F. Deedes, ''At War With Waugh'' (London: Macmillan, 2003), p. 3</ref> Berhanu Kebele, Ethiopian ambassador to London, pointed out that Deedes's sharp journalistic instincts ensured Italian excesses were kept in the public eye.<ref>Letter to ''The Daily Telegraph'' on 27 August 2007(Issue no 47,347)</ref>

Barring the question of age, a more appropriate model for Boot is [William Beach Thomas](/source/William_Beach_Thomas) who, according to [Peter Stothard](/source/Peter_Stothard), "was a quietly successful countryside columnist and literary gent who became a calamitous ''[Daily Mail](/source/Daily_Mail)'' war correspondent" in [World War I](/source/World_War_I).<ref>[The Times](/source/The_Times) [http://timescolumns.typepad.com/stothard/2007/05/hay_we_got_it_w.html Hay, we got it wrong] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927141754/http://timescolumns.typepad.com/stothard/2007/05/hay_we_got_it_w.html |date=27 September 2007 }} 29 May 2007</ref>

==="Dear Bill"===
Deedes was close to [Margaret Thatcher](/source/Margaret_Thatcher) and her husband [Denis](/source/Denis_Thatcher). The [spoof letters](/source/Prime_Minister_parodies_(Private_Eye)) "from" Mr. Thatcher which appeared in satirical magazine ''[Private Eye](/source/Private_Eye)'' throughout the Thatcher years were always addressed to ''[Dear Bill](/source/Dear_Bill)'' – the "Bill" in question was usually assumed to be Deedes; however some instalments (e.g. 16 May and 28 November 1986) would suggest otherwise. The two men regularly played golf together, with Deedes saying it was a public service to take the spouse of the Prime Minister away from the stress of being married to the country's head of government.  The ''Eye'' also based its long-running editorial comment, "Shome mishtake shurely?", on Deedes' distinctive slur.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/aug/19/pressandpublishing.dailytelegraph|title=The unassuming W F Deedes|date= 19 August 2007|newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref>

==Publications==
* ''Swift and Bold: The Story of the King's Royal Rifle Corps in the Second World War 1939-1945'', coedited with Sir Hereward Wake, Aldershot: Gale & Polden, 1949
* ''At War with Waugh: The Real Story of "Scoop"'', Macmillan, 2003 {{ISBN|1-4050-0573-4}}
* ''Brief Lives'', Macmillan, 2004 {{ISBN|0-330-42639-7}}
* ''Dear Bill: A Memoir'', Macmillan, 2005 {{ISBN|1-4050-5266-X}}
* ''Words and Deedes: Selected Journalism 1931-2006'', Macmillan, 2006, {{ISBN|1-4050-5396-8}}

==Arms==
{{Infobox COA wide
|image = centre|150px centre|200px
|escutcheon = ''Per fess nebuly Gules and Argent three Martlets counterchanged''
|crest = An Eagle's Head erased per fess nebuly Gules and Argent between two Wings expanded Sable<ref name="burke"/>
}}

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071127233438/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/exclusions/deedes/nosplit/deedes.xml A tribute to Lord Deedes: ''The Daily Telegraph'']
* [https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6952578.stm "Gentleman journalist remembered" – BBC News Online, 18 August 2007]
* {{Hansard-contribs | mr-william-deedes-1 | Bill Deedes }}
* {{NPG name}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{succession box | before=[Edward Percy Smith](/source/Edward_Percy_Smith) | title=[Member of Parliament](/source/Member_of_Parliament_(United_Kingdom))<br/>for [Ashford](/source/Ashford_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) | years=1950–1974 | after=[Keith Speed](/source/Keith_Speed) }}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=[Ernest Marples](/source/Ernest_Marples)}}
{{s-ttl|title=[Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government](/source/Parliamentary_Secretary_to_the_Ministry_of_Housing_and_Local_Government)|years=1954–1955}}
{{s-aft|after=[Enoch Powell](/source/Enoch_Powell)}}
{{s-bef|before=[The Lord Mills](/source/The_Lord_Mills)}}
{{s-ttl|title=[Minister without Portfolio](/source/Minister_without_Portfolio)|years=1962–1964}}
{{s-aft|after=[Eric Fletcher](/source/Eric_Fletcher)}}
{{s-media}}
{{succession box | before=[Maurice Green](/source/Maurice_Green_(journalist)) | title=Editor of ''[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph)''| years=1974–1986 | after=[Max Hastings](/source/Max_Hastings) }}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deedes, Bill}}
Category:1913 births
Category:2007 deaths
Category:21st-century British journalists
Category:British Army personnel of World War II
Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Category:Conservative Party (UK) life peers
Category:Deaths from bronchopneumonia
Category:Deaths from pneumonia in England
Category:Deputy lieutenants of Kent
Category:English male journalists
Category:English newspaper editors
Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II
Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Category:Military personnel from Kent
Category:Military personnel from the London Borough of Camden
Category:Ministers in the Eden government, 1955–1957
Category:Ministers in the Macmillan and Douglas-Home governments, 1957–1964
Category:Ministers in the third Churchill government, 1951–1955
Category:People educated at Harrow School
Category:Queen's Westminsters officers
Category:Recipients of the Military Cross
Category:UK MPs 1950–1951
Category:UK MPs 1951–1955
Category:UK MPs 1955–1959
Category:UK MPs 1959–1964
Category:UK MPs 1964–1966
Category:UK MPs 1966–1970
Category:UK MPs 1970–1974
Category:UK MPs 1974
Category:20th-century British male journalists
Category:20th-century British newspaper editors

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Bill Deedes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Deedes) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Deedes?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.